


Man of Your Dreams

by theshippingexpress



Category: Shall We Date?: Wizardess Heart+
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 02:24:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19347631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshippingexpress/pseuds/theshippingexpress
Summary: Someone is trying to steal magic from Dragonkins! Felix agrees to work with Liz to help save his magic.This is my attempt at a Felix route.





	1. Old Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NadiaWH](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NadiaWH/gifts).



In the light of the setting sun, the gardens seemed to glow. Walking through the gardens, I felt a certain tranquility.

' _Is there any more beautiful place in all the world? ..Huh?'_

I stopped as I came to the edge of the gardens- quite literally. When I looked down over the edge, I could see the sky beneath me. And I realized where I was- the Castle in the Sky. ' _But I thought I had sealed away the Castle! What am I doing up here?'_

Suddenly, I heard bickering voices. Heart racing, I ducked around the corner, peeking to look at them. Two men were strolling through the courtyard together. I recognized Willem at once, but he looked.. different. Younger. He was wearing different clothes, and his long hair only bounced around his shoulders. A cheerful looking man with long, dark hair was laughing at his side.

' _This must be a dream.. or a memory,'_ I thought. ' _Then the man with Willem must be..'_

“It's _twilight,_ not sunset. It's not sunset until the sun is-”

“Oh, right,” the cheerful man said with a grin. “But look at that! Isn't the dusk sky so pretty?”

“Now, now, Lacan, you know that's not right,” another voice chided. “That's the _sunrise,_ not the sunset. Hasn't Willem lectured us enough on that?”

Another man walked up to them, and my heart began to race. He had long, golden blonde hair and a sweet smile. Even though the years had changed him, I knew that face. _Felix._

' _I've never seen him smile like that,'_ I thought. _'How long ago was this?'_

“Ugh,” Willem groaned, “I'm not sure what bugs me more, you making that mistake or that I know full well you're just doing this to annoy me.” The pair of Dragonkin laughed, and Willem shook his head. “Perhaps I should go back to my chambers and take a nap. I might be able to have a good daydream, at least.”

Lacan stopped laughing, folding his arms. “Willem, that's not what a daydream is!” Even I couldn't help but laugh as I watched the three of them, but, at the same time, my heart was aching for them.

' _They used to smile so freely..'_ I remembered the pain that they'd been through. How the three of them had been separated, the technology of the Dragonkin had been stolen, and Felix and Lacan had been sealed away. Even when they had been reunited, Felix had been unable to let go of his hatred- and this Castle had been sealed away once more.

In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever see that smile again.

 

“Liz! Liz! Wake up!”

I jolted up as I heard someone pounding at my door. As I got to my feet, I remembered where I was. I was in my cabin in the village, not in the Castle in the Sky.

As I opened the door, I saw it was Caesar. “Oh, thank goodness you're all right-”

I felt a chill sweep down my spine. “Did something happen?”

“We got a call from Hugo an hour ago; he said that Willem had been attacked!”

 

“I can't thank you enough for all of your help..”

“Don't worry about it,” Hugo said, but I heard a thread of worry in his voice.

When I entered Willem's house, Hugo was helping Willem get settled into a chair. He looked up at us, giving us a strained smile. “Oh, hello.” Despite his smile, his hand kept drifting to his side.

“We got your message, Hugo,” Caesar said as he slipped into the room. “Alfonse should be here in a few minutes, he just had to grab a few things.”

“You called them?” Willem asked. “I told you, you didn't have to do that. These injuries are nothing, I'll heal just fine-”

“It never hurts to be careful,” Hugo said.

“We're worried about you,” Mischa, who had been watching, said gently.

“Willem, who was it that attacked you?” I asked. “Were you able to apprehend them?”

“He was..” Something flickered across Willem's face before his expression smoothed out again. “I wasn't able to catch a glimpse of his face.”

“By the time I got here, the culprit was already gone,” Hugo said.

“I'm here, I'm here!” Alfonse burst through the door, coming up to Willem. “Don't worry, we'll get you all fixed up, right as rain.”

“I appreciate it..”

 

Caesar and I must have asked Hugo a million questions as he waited outside Willem's house, but he wasn't able to give us any solid answers, and that only made us more worried.

Hugo sighed. “They shouldn't have been able to find him this deep in the forest...”

' _And who would be strong enough to attack a Dragonkin, let alone wound him?'_

“Hugo?” I looked up to see that his expression had gone vacant, staring off into space. There was a certain emptiness in his eyes that sent chills down my spine. “Hugo, are you all right?”

“ _Three beings eternal time tore apart again and again. By war, by death- finally, by choice. The Dragon King, the One Who Slumbers, the One Who Waits.”_ When he spoke, his voice rang inside my head. I knew this feeling, but it had only happened once before.. “ _Night by night by night, then the blood of Dragons and humans come together, the powerful become powerless- and the powerful become one. Dreams become reality, the Dragon King will fall- and the Reciters will be born again."_

And, just as soon as it came, he stopped, shaking his head. “I'm sorry,” he said, his voice back to normal, “what were we talking about?”

I looked over at Caesar; his expression told me that he'd heard every last word as well. “Hugo.. what was that?” He just stared at us, baffled.

I looked down to Mischa; in contrast, her expression was filled with understanding. “I think I need to call Vain.” With that, she disappeared into Hugo's house.

 

“Good news, Willem, you're all clear,” Alfonse said cheerily, and I let out a sigh of relief. “I'd ask that you don't push yourself for a few days, but you should be fine.”

“Thank you, Alfonse,” Willem said. Again, there was something in his expression that I couldn't read, and I pushed back the frustration.

' _I'm sure it's nothing. This must've been hard for him.'_

“I'm glad to hear that you're well,” a voice said, and I looked up to see Vain enter the house. “Because, if what Mischa has told me is correct, we just might need you for the crisis ahead.”

 

“You know what happened to Hugo?” I asked as we settled in Hugo's house. He took a seat in a chair, and Vain eyed him, kneeling before him, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“Are you all right?” he asked gently, and Hugo nodded. “It's been a while since you've had a vision,” he said quietly. “And here I thought we could get a few weeks of rest..”

“Vision?” I echoed, and Vain looked up with a sigh.

“Ever since he was little, Hugo has had the tendency to get these.. visions, particularly when there's been a big change in the timeline.”

“From what I've heard, I basically fall into a trance,” Hugo said, rubbing his forehead. “Vain and Mischa have told me about them, but I can't for the life of me remember them.”

“So then.. That first time that we met, when we were investigating the Black Robe Plague, that was one of your visions?” He gave a weak smile and nodded.

The effects from stopping Felix must have been enough.” Vain turned back to us. “Do you remember the prophecy?”

I had only heard it once, but the words were burned into my memory as though I had heard them a million times. I carefully repeated Hugo's prophecy, and Vain wrote it down. When I was done, Vain's eyes went wide. “Do you know what any of that means?”

“It's hard to say,” Vain said. “For us, this territory is almost entirely new. Although I doubt it would be hard to hazard a guess at some of those.”

I nodded. I remembered another prophecy that we had encountered. “The Dragon King.. Do you think that could be referring to Felix?”

“Most likely.” Hugo sighed.

“Is it possible that he could be the one behind the attack?” Caesar asked, but something made me stop. “It might explain why he seemed to be hesitating

“No.. I don't think so.” I remembered that night in the castle, when we had fought at Willem's side. Even when they were enemies, Felix had hesitated to fight his friend. Would he really have attacked him in such an underhanded manner? “Besides, Willem wouldn't have hidden that from us.”

“Either way, we should be on the look out for the culprit,” Hugo pointed out. “If they didn't get what they want this time, they might try again.”

“I'll talk to Headmaster Schuyler about the situation,” I said. “It would be good to set up patrols again.” Alfonse and Caesar nodded.

“I'll keep an eye out for him as well,” Hugo told us firmly. I felt a bit better knowing that we had a plan, but there was still a pit in my stomach.

' _Have we stopped one threat just for another one to rise?'_

 

It had been three days since Willem had been attacked. That night, with permission, I stayed in Liz Village again, but, no matter how late it got, I couldn't get to sleep. I tossed and turned, but my mind kept racing.

' _Perhaps a walk will clear my mind..'_

I slipped out of the house, heading out into the forest. As I walked, all of my worries seemed to melt away. It was hard to think about my worries walking under the moonlight-

I saw another figure standing in the flower garden. In the moonlight, I could make out a figure with pale blonde hair- and black horns. ' _Who could that be?'_ I'd be lying if I said my heart wasn't racing. ' _He's beautiful..'_

The man suddenly turned to face me, and my heart caught in my throat as I realized who it was. “Felix?!”

“You're- you're the one who sealed my castle,” he said. “It appears this is just not my night..”

' _I shouldn't have come out here alone- How am I going to face him?'_ I thought, but I raised my wand anyway.

“Stay back!” He didn't move from his place. “Are you the one who attacked Willem?”

His eyes widened. “What are you talking about?” And I lowered my wand for a moment. He sounded genuinely confused.

He was moving, but he was- wavering where he stood. And I suddenly noticed how his hand kept drifting down to his side, just as Willem had. “Are you.. injured?”

“I..” He took a step towards me, but he wavered. Just as I moved forward, he collapsed.

“Felix?” I ran to his side, kneeling beside him.

He had been my enemy for so long, and now he was injured, collapsed, before me- I couldn't just leave him there- ' _What do I do?'_

 

Rembrandt: _I must say, that was a surprising encounter. Who'd think Felix would come to our village?_

Hugo: _I'm more concerned about these attacks. First you, now him. Who would dare to attack a Dragonkin?_

Rembrandt: _I mean, haven't you fought against Dragonkins numerous times?_

Hugo: ...

Hugo: _..That's different. Besides, the future has changed now. I thought we could get a little rest._

Rembrandt: _My apologies for causing such a stir._

Hugo: _..Just do the preview._

Rembrandt: _All right. Unsure of what to do, Liz takes Felix to visit an old friend- me?!_

Hugo: _Next time, A Pair of Dragonkins._

Rembrandt: _Looks like I need to go make some tea.._

 


	2. A Pair of Dragonkins

I gently slipped one of Felix's arms around my shoulder. ' _I can't take him too far,'_ I found myself thinking. There would be too many questions if I took him back to the academy, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to carry him that far..

 

“Willem?” I called as I knocked on his door. Geez, how did I explain this? “I'm sorry to wake you at this hour, but I've got a bit of a situation..”

“Liz? What do you need?” Willem opened the door, and his eyes went wide as he saw who I had with me. “..I see. Come in.” He ushered me into the house, directing me to set him down. He handed me a cup of tea as we sat down. “What happened?”

“I was feeling restless, so I went out for a walk, and I found him injured in the forest.”

“He didn't harm you, did he?”

“No!” I said quickly. “He feel unconscious before he did anything.” He sighed in relief. I kept looking over at Felix. Despite his injuries, he looked calm in his sleep.. “I can't help but think that whoever attacked you is the same person who injured him.”

“That would make these attacks a lot less random,” he admitted. “We are the last of the Dragonkin, and someone is attacking us for it.”

I was still too restless to go back to my house, so Willem and I continued to chat. After a little while, I heard Felix stirring. “W-where am I?”

“Easy now.” Willem slowly helped him sit up, and his eyes widened as he saw his old friend. “You're in my house. You were injured, so Liz brought you here.” Felix glanced over at me, and then he shook his head.

“I'm fine, I'm fine,” he said, his hand brushing against his side. “The enemy merely took me by surprise, but these wounds are nothing. Nothing a human can do to me can hurt me.”

“Who attacked you?”

He finally turned his attention to me. “What does it matter to you? That desperate to see me weakened?”

I was caught off guard by his accusation, and I fought for the right words. “I thought..”

“We thought that you were attacked by the same person who attacked me,” Willem explained. Felix's eyes went wide as he looked over him.

“You were attacked?” he asked quietly. Willem nodded. Felix got to his feet. “How badly we re you injured?”

“Felix,” Willem said, as gentle as ever, “I'm fine-”

“Oh, please. Knowing you, you haven't looked at your wound properly,” Felix said, walking up to Willem. “Have you been getting enough sunlight? Human food won't be enough for you to regain your strength, you know that you have to-” To my surprise, Willem burst out laughing. “What are you laughing at?”

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just.. it's been a long time since you fussed over me like this, Felix,” Willem said with a smile. Felix turned away.

“Even if you are living among the humans now,” Felix said, “it would not do for the last of the us to get hurt.”

“It's been quite a while since I've seen you with your hood down either.”

“Huh?” Felix stopped, quickly pulling his hood up over his head once more. He glanced over at me. “ _Don't_ get any ideas, wizardess.”

_'...Ideas for what?'_

And then suddenly Felix stood up a little straighter as he looked at his old friend. "Willem.. Your magic-" He sighed, looking away, and a chill swept down my spine.

"Willem?" He was silent, staring down at his lap, then he looked back up at me with a bittersweet smile. And I finally noticed that there was something different about him, about the magic that I had always felt surrounding him.

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, Liz; I wasn't sure of it until this morning myself, when I was trying to light the fire place," he said at last. "When I was attacked the other day, I made it out without any injuries- but my attacker took my magic with him."

_'No. No-'_ I started to speak, but I didn't know what to say.

"I didn't want to worry any of you," he said, and I sighed. That sounded like him. "I thought that I could live a life without magic, but.. if there is more than one case-"

Felix was quiet, but I could see his entire body was tense. "They're coming after our magic," he said quietly. "They took yours, and they tried to take mine. I shouldn't have hesitated. I should have struck them down where they stood. Perhaps that would have given you your magic back, then I wouldn't be-"

"Felix," I called out gently, and his gaze fell on me. "Did you know who did this? It's not like you to hesitate, not unless this attacker was.." He was silent, turning away.

"They appeared to you the same way he did to me, didn't he? I thought that it was impossible, but, if you-"

"Lacan," Felix said. "When the attacker appeared before me, for just one moment, I believed that Lacan had been revived after all. It was only for a minute, but it was enough for him to wound me."

"He appeared the same way to me," Willem said. "I believed that what I had seen was impossible, that's why I didn't speak up."

Lacan? For just a moment, the worst passed through my mind- that we had failed after all- but.. I knew that the future had been changed. The Castle in the Sky had been sealed away, and the town below had been saved.

"Is there a way that Lacan could have woken up without the castle falling apart?"

"Not a chance. If Lacan's seal had been tampered with in any way, I would have known," Felix said. "They are nothing more than a crude imitation- an imitation that now has half the power of the Dragonkin." He shook his head. "I should have known. I'm through with this-" He turned and stalked out of the house.

"Felix!" I don't know what possessed me, but something told me I couldn't just leave it there; without thinking, I bolted out of the door after him. I could hear Willem calling out after me, but I didn't stop. I caught up to him in the middle of the flower field. "Please, wait-"

"I don't know what we ever saw in humans," he snarled without turning back to me. I had the feeling that he was talking to himself; did he even know I was there? "Time and time again we've given pieces of ourselves away, and they only continued to take and take. They took our technology, took our people, took our Castle- and now even our very magic is being stolen from us? Is nothing sacred? And now.. Now, Willem's magic has been stolen, and mine very well may be next. Are my people doomed to fall once more?"

My heart ached for him as he ranted; I couldn't have imagined how much pain and grief he felt. All of these years, he'd carried the pain of losing his people, the entire burden of the Dragonkin resting on the shoulders of two people.

He froze. “Who's there?” He turned to me, and his eyes widened. "Are you.. crying?" I touched my cheek; I hadn't realized that I had been crying.

_'How embarrassing,'_ I thought as I turned away.

“I didn't realize that you followed me,” he said quietly. “I didn't mean to startle you-”

“No!” I said. “I..” I gathered up my courage. “Willem told me about what you had to go through during the war, about all the pain you went through.” I thought that he would turn away, as he had before, but he didn't take his eyes off me. “When I think about that, it hurts my heart.”

“Pity.. Tears of pity,” he mumbled, and then he shook his head.

He stepped close to me, and then, he suddenly reached out and brushed away my tears. “Please, do not cry on my account. I am a survivor of the Dragonkin.” His voice was surprisingly gentle. “I'll make it through this, and, if I know anything, so will Willem.”

My heart raced as I looked into his eyes, hearing his gentle words. ' _I've never been this close to him before.'_

“Get away from her!" My blood ran cold as I heard the familiar voice; I turned to see Hugo running towards us. Felix quickly pulled away, and I turned back to Hugo. Black lightning crackled in his hand. "I should have known that you'd come here-"

"Hugo, stop!" I cried out. "This isn't what you think, he wasn't hurting me!" He stopped, eying me.

“Tsk. This is too much trouble.." And just like that, Felix disappeared in a mass of black mist.

Hugo ran up to me. "Are you all right? He didn't hurt you, did he?" I shook my head.

"He and I were just talking," I said. I didn't know how to begin to explain everything that had happened, especially about Willem's magic. It didn't seem like my place to say..

He eyed me but then nodded. "Come on, let's get back inside. It's late."

 

Once inside, I, with Willem's help, told Hugo everything that had happened that night. Willem smiled when I told him about Felix wiping away my tears.

"That sounds just like him all right," he said quietly. "He was always there to wipe away my tears. And if ever I got injured, even a minor wound.. Well, you saw what he was like. When it came to things like that, he and Lacan made quite a formidable pair.."

Hugo had been quiet as I told the story. "Someone is stealing the magic of the Dragonkin.." To my surprise, he looked a little pale for a moment, but then his expression cleared again. "In all of the battles that I've been through, it was known that Felix was the most powerful of the Dragonkin Reciters. I certainly don't trust him with all of that power, but I don't really trust anyone else with all of that power either."

"What are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure. I'll have to confirm things with Vain. For now, just keep up your rounds."

As he left, I found myself looking to the sky. To my surprise, the sky was starting to lighten. _'I hadn't realized I'd spent so long here,'_ I found myself thinking.

Willem smiled as he came to stand beside me. "This brings back old memories," he mused. "I remember I used to love to watch the twilight with Lacan and Felix. I was always very, uh, particular about the different types, and Lacan and Felix used to tease me all the time by getting them mixed up."

"Are you sure they weren't actually getting them mixed up?" I asked, and Willem smiled.

"Oh, they knew. I made sure of it. They just loved to tease me about it. They said it was the one thing that could get me riled up."

As he spoke, I remembered the dream that I had a few nights before. "I.. I saw that."

"What?"

"The night that you were attacked, I had a dream about the three of you." He listened intently as I explained my dream.

“I see. It's possible that your connection with the Goddess Crystal allowed you to see back in time."

"Honestly, it wouldn't be the first time," I told him. "When we were trying to free Lucious from the Labyrinth, I kept having these dreams.." I stopped short, unsure of how much to say.

_'Come to think of it, that was the first time that I saw Felix..'_ But that had been nothing more than a dream, a vision of a future that would no longer come. I hadn't really met him yet then. And yet, somehow, that memory hadn't left me.

"Liz, it's almost sunrise, you should go home and get some rest while you can." And I groaned as I remembered that I still had to go to class in the morning.

_'It's going to be a long day...'_

 

_Hiro: So Willem's out of magic now.._

_Joel: He doesn't seem too sad about it though._

_Hiro: Well, it is possible to live without your magic. It shouldn't be too difficult for him. I did it, after all._

_Joel: You too? Those few weeks where I lost my magic were some of the worst of my life._

_Hiro: ..I lost my magic for three years._

_Joel: Oh. And they didn't kick you out of the academy for that?_

_Hiro: No, I just had to take extra classes. That was difficult. Why?_

_Joel: ..._

_Hiro: Still, I hate to see her cry._

_Joel: Me too.._

_Hiro: Next time, Truce With the Dragon King._

 


	3. Truce With the Dragon King

"So, one more time, are you sure that it wasn't actually Lacan who attacked you?"

"I'm sure," Willem repeated for the thousandth time. We had all gathered at his house again to go over everything once more, although I did leave some details out.

_'I don't really need to tell them about the crying part,'_ I thought. _'Not that they'd believe me if I told them everything..'_

"Maybe it was some kind of shapeshifter?" Lucious suggested. "I believe I've read about them in books.."

"Who cares what it is?" Zeus yelled. "All we need to do is find them and beat them up, and then we can get Willem's magic back!"

"I doubt it would be that simple," Hiro said with a sigh.

"If we could defeat them, I believe we could get my magic back. But we would still need to know who they were."

"And anybody who has Willem's power would be formidable.."

I looked up from the discussions as I noticed a tapping at the door. When I opened it, a Magic Note flew in.

_'Who is this from?'_

 

My heart was in my throat as I walked up to Alfonse's clinic. _'Is he really here?'_

Alfonse was waiting for me at the doors. "Thanks for coming so quick. He just showed up when I was coming up to meet you and started asking for you."

Sure enough, Felix was waiting inside the clinic for us. A thousand questions raced through my mind as I faced him. "Why did you come here?"

"I wished to speak to you," he said plainly. "And this seemed the easiest way to find you without alerting one of the messengers of time. A fight with either of them would be unnecessary."

Alfonse came to stand at my side, whispering to me. "I'll stay here as long as you need me." My heart warmed at his words.

"If you want to talk to me, Alfonse is staying with me."

"That's fine," he said without hesitation. "I simply wished to avoid an unneeded fight."

I eased a little, though my heart was still racing. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

He spoke carefully. "I have a duty to my people; I cannot allow our magic to fall into the wrong hands. But it wouldn't be.. prudent for me to do this by myself. Since you are the guardian of the Goddess Crystal, you seemed like the wisest choice to help me."

I admit, I was staring a bit, but it wasn't every day that the former leader of the Dragonkins asked me to protect him. "You want my protection?"

"Call it what you like," he said, avoiding my gaze. "But I can't imagine it would be better for you if my magic- or were to get into someone else's hands." He had a point there.

Either way, we'd need to go after the magic thief, and it would only get worse if they stole Felix's magic too. And, truth be told, the idea of not knowing what he was up to was honestly.. worrying.

_'But this choice doesn't just affect me.'_ I glanced over at Alfonse; I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was.

I looked back to him, raising my chin. "I'll need to speak to the others first."

He met my eyes steadily. "Then call them."

 

By the time we arrived at Willem's house, Hugo and Vain had joined the group. I could see them go tense as they saw Felix approaching.

"We got your magic note," Hugo told me, "but I still can't believe that Felix is actually here with you.." From Vain's look, I could tell that he was feeling the same.

"I don't like this situation anymore than you do," Felix said coolly. "But it seems that we have a common goal now."

The others were quiet as Felix explained once more why he had come to me, although I could see disbelief in their eyes.

"Yeah, I'm not buying it," Vain said plainly, crossing his arms. "Just a few weeks ago, you were trying to destroy the world, and now you want to become our buddy? What would you want with a bunch of humans anyway?"

"From what I've seen of you in battle, I know that your group has some formidable warriors among you. If we could work together.."

"In other words, you want us as your bodyguards," Vain sneered. "I'm not sure I trust someone else with your powers, but I sure as heck don't trust you with them. For all we know, whoever's doing this could handle your powers way better than you could."

"Vain-"

"I'm sorry, Liz, but I'm with him- whoever you are," Caesar spoke up first. "As long as he's alive, the future is still in danger. Who knows if we're only getting set up to be tricked? For all we know, we'll trust him and he'll go and try to get you to unseal the castle again!"

"Unsealing the castle was never my intention-"

The others started to speak up, but there was something that was still something that was bugging me. "Wait." My gaze fell to Hugo, and that's when it hit me. "Just answer me this: if nothing has truly changed.. then why did Hugo have his vision?" Hugo's eyes widened.

"That vision.."

I turned to Vain, choosing my words carefully. "I understand your hesitance. You've been fighting this battle for a long time. But you said it yourself, the future has changed, even though Felix is still here. Something has changed. And something.. something else is coming, and I have a feeling we're all going to need to work together to survive. You don't have to be best buddies, but isn't it worth it to listen?"

For what it's worth.." Willem had been quiet throughout all of our discussions, and only now did he speak up. "I believe that he has changed as well. When he saw that I was injured, I saw something of him that I thought I'd never seen again. Some flicker of who he used to be. I don't know if this will mean much coming from me, but.. I want to believe in him as well."

Silence. I could feel all eyes were on me, but I didn't break Vain's gaze. Finally, he looked away. "You are the one he asked for help, little bunny. In this case, I will follow what you do."

"As will I. It is my duty to protect you, Goddess, so I will follow you," Hugo told me gently, and my heart warmed. The others were quiet.

"I agree with them!" Alfonse said cheerily. "I'm sure that we can all work together."

"Thank you."

"Unsealing the castle was never my intention," Felix said quietly. "Not anymore, anyway. It would be useless to try anything now that you have access to the Goddess Crystal." I admit, that was a bit of a surprise.

“Then what is your plan?" Vain asked. Felix was quiet, avoiding their gaze.

"I.. I don't know. But I refuse to let things end here."

We talked over things for a bit longer, making plans. "You can stay in the village for the night," Hugo said at last. "We'll take turns staying with you."

"You can stay with me for tonight," I volunteered. I flushed a little at how quickly I said it, but the others agreed. Perhaps seeing him with me would ease their trust a little.

Hugo stopped me as he was walking out. "Call me if you need anything," he said quietly. I nodded. Hugo only lived a couple of houses down; it would be easy enough to get him.

As the others left, Felix went over to Willem. "How are your wounds?" he asked quietly.

Willem gently smiled. "I'm all healed up just fine," he said. "Except for.. well, you know."

“I'm going to get your magic back, I promise you," Felix said. "I don't know how just yet, but.. we'll find a way."

"Thank you. That means a lot."

 

That night, Felix stayed with me. And as much as I was trying to be cool and go about my business, it was hard to focus when I knew my former enemy was sitting in my living room.

_'It's all right, it's all right. It's just.. the former leader of the Dragonkin staying in my house. Well, I have all of this energy,'_ I thought. _'Maybe baking something will help calm my nerves.'_ But as I started to get my stuff together..

"What are you doing?" I nearly jumped a foot in the air as I heard his voice; I looked to see Felix standing in the doorway of my kitchen.

“I thought I'd make some cookies,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

“I..” He looked nervous, glancing away. “There was.. light in here.”

“Light?”

“I don't do well in the dark,” he said quietly. “It was one thing to deal with it during the games, when I was focused on getting Nightmare back. But in there..”

Oh. Of course. After everything he'd been through, of course he wouldn't like the dark. “Well, baking always helps calm my nerves,” I said, trying to be casual. “If you'd like, I could use some help.” I felt silly as soon as I said it. Why would he want anything to do with helping me bake?

But to my surprise, he said, “What are you making?”

I was taken aback. “You'd help me? I thought you wouldn't like cooking.”

“I have experience with it, but.. it's been a long time since I've tried,” he answered. That was.. a shock. It was hard to imagine someone like Felix enjoying food, let alone baking it. “Before the war, we worked alongside the humans to create delicious foods. The Baker family was known far and wide for it..”

“Baker family..” It took me a minute to realize what he meant. “Wait, is that-”

“My family name, yes,” he answered. _Felix Baker._ Such a small piece of information, but strange all the same. Strange that he would trust me with it.

I regathered my composure. Perhaps this could be good. Perhaps I could learn more about him. “Well, Felix Baker,” I said playfully, “I'm making cookies. Would you like to help me?”

 

As we worked, my mind was still abuzz with a thousand questions. And, well, since he was here.. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

As soon as I started to ask, I found myself at a loss for words. On one hand, it seemed rude to ask, but I had to know. "If we can help you save your magic, what are you planning to do?" He went silent, looking away again. "You said that you're not going to try unsealing the castle again, but.."

“I-I don't know," he said at last as he looked up at me.

That was a surprise. For someone who always seemed to have a plan, he had nothing? "What have you been doing up until now?"

"Trying to recover from my wounds," he said plainly. "First from the battle with Willem, then from the attack. I've just been.. wandering, trying to figure things out." I had expected a lot of plans from him, but.. I wasn't expecting him not to have a plan at all. "I don't know what I'm going to do from here, but..” He finally met my eyes. “Willem and I are the last of the Dragonkin. I refuse to roll over and let my people fade away."

I didn't know what to say, but I had a feeling I understood Felix a lot better.

 

"There, all done!" I couldn't help but smile as I pulled the cookies out of the oven. Felix eyed them apprehensively.

"I haven't tried baking in thousands of years. I'm not sure how well these are going to turn out."

"I'm sure they'll turn out just fine with your help!" I told him. His eyes widened as he took a bite.

"These are delicious!" And I couldn't help but giggle as I noticed something.

"Are you wagging your tail?" That was surprisingly cute!

His face went bright red. "Shut up!"

I couldn't help but laugh. We may not have had complete trust yet, but.. it felt like a start.

I couldn't help but wonder at this side he was showing me. He seemed so different from the man we had faced so many times.

But then again.. After so many tries, after so many hopeless futures, we had reversed that terrible future by swaying one Dragonkin leader to our side. Who knows what we could do if he was be our side too?

 

_Klaus: Even with everything she said, I still don't know if I trust Felix.._

_Alfonse: Wow, those cookies sound delicious! I wish I could have gotten some!_

_Klaus: ...Is that what's really important here?_

_Alfonse: But don't you want Liz's cookies too? You're always talking about how you never get them._

_Klaus: Alfonse-_

_Alfonse: The way everyone always fights over them reminds me of when we were little~ You and I would always fight over the last-_

_Klaus: Alfonse!_

_Alfonse: Whoops! Looks like I said too much! It's just so fun to tease you~_

_Klaus: *sigh* Next time, 'Party in the Night'._

_Alfonse: Do you want to get some cookies now?_

 


	4. Party in the Night

“All right, it looks like it's my turn to guard you!”

“I have a bad feeling about this..” Felix sighed.

It had been three nights since Felix had shown up at the clinic, and we had started our rotation in guarding him. Somehow, he had made it through staying with Hugo and then with Vain with nobody dying, so that was a start. Now it was Zeus's turn.

“I have to report back to the academy tonight, so you're going to have to stay in the dorms tonight,” Zeus said.

“I didn't figure I'd be allowed on school grounds,” Felix said.

“We've already talked it through with Headmaster Schuyler.” He wasn't exactly pleased with the whole situation, but we'd talked him into it. Somehow.

“You know what that means! Party at the Night Cafe tonight!” Zeus proclaimed. “You're all invited!”

“I'm not sure I like the sound of that,” Vain said hesitantly, and Hugo sighed.

“You might as well give up, Vain. We're going to be dragged to this party either way..”

 

As we settled into the Night Cafe, my heart warmed at the sight of all of our friends together. And also.. I couldn't help but marvel at how big our group had gotten. With our Prefect friends, two time travelers, and two Dragonkin reciters, well, we made quite a sight, I'd say!

But things weren't quite all sunshine. I noticed a silent tension; when we got to the cafe, Felix quickly pulled away from the group, going over to a table in the corner while the others crammed into our usual table.

_'I suppose it makes sense they wouldn't trust him just yet,'_ I thought.

“So, there's a lot that I wanted to ask you,” Zeus said as he sat next to Vain. “You're also from the future?”

“That's correct,” Vain said coolly. “We are both members of the organization-”  
“And you're Hugo's brother, right?”

Vain's eyes went wide, and he whirled on Hugo, who just threw up his hands. “I didn't tell him!”

“Then how did you know?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Zeus tilted his head as he looked at the bickering brothers. I smiled as I heard the others laughed.

As they were talking, I decided to go talk to Felix. I brought my food over as I came to sit by his side, and he glanced up at me. I held out my chips. “Want some?”

He took a few chips, glancing up at the group. “They are quite a lively bunch, aren't they?” I nodded.

“Things are never dull around here.” We sat together, and he started to look down on his book. “What are you reading?” I asked.

“While I've been staying with the messengers, I've been mostly trying to research those who could steal magic,” he said. “There isn't a lot of information though, only rumors and fairytales. The closest I've found is a Chimera, but it doesn't look like it could take human form..”

“How much have you read?”

He paused. “I'm not sure. I'd wager I spent most of the night reading though. I slept two or three hours and read the rest..”

“You're really dedicated,” I said. Of course, I had searched through the library for everything, I had gone on patrols, but my Prefect duties had also kept me pretty busy.

“I'm used to it. I had a lot to catch up on when I woke up. Not to mention, enemies I had to learn rather quickly about..” He shook his head. “Besides, it gave me something to do during the nights.”

“I used to pull long nights like that,” I said without thinking. “When I first came to this academy, I was far behind my classmates. I could barely bring over a glass of water with magic! Even though I hated it, I would spend countless hours studying-” I was vaguely aware that he lowered his book, and I wondered if I was talking too much. “I'm sorry, I didn't just mean to ramble about myself-'

“It's all right. I can't explain it, but.. it's interesting to hear about you,” he said. “Who knew that the Goddess of Time would start out in such a place. Makes it all the more impressive, really.” My breath caught in my throat at his unexpected praise. I had never thought about it like that.

“That's right!” I puffed out my chest.

“Perhaps I was a fool to underestimate you,” he mused. “In the end, it was humans who defeated us. And now it's humans who may end up stealing our magic.” My heart ached at his tone. I had almost forgotten the reason that he was here.

“This must be scary for you,” I said.

“It's not really me that I'm concerned about,” he said, and I followed his gaze to Willem. “If we can stop the attacks, then we can get his magic back. As long as..” He just shook his head, and I didn't push it.

For a minute, we just sat together, watching the group. I absently reached for some more chips, when I felt something brush against my hand. I looked down to see Felix and I had reached for the same chip. He quickly pulled his hand away.

“What?!” I heard Caesar exclaim; I looked up to see him chatting with Willem. “I didn't know that you could sing!”

Willem hummed happily. “It's true! Singing was a favorite pasttime of the Dragonkin,” he said. “I'd say Felix and Lacan were even better than me!”

My gaze turned to Felix, sitting next to me. “Is that true?”

He smirked. “Pray tell, why do you think that we're called the Reciters?” Honestly, I had never thought about it.

“Well, you can't just tell us that and not sing us a song,” Vain said teasingly; even Hugo nodded.

“Yeah, give us a song!” Zeus called out.

“I think that would sound lovely,” Alfonse said with a grin, clapping his hands together.

Felix and Willem exchanged a look, and Willem smiled. “Well? How about it, just like old times?”

And then, Felix started to sing.

Chills shot down my spine. I heard his beautiful voice as bright and clear as day- ringing through the air- and then, a moment later, Willem's voice joining in. All the world seemed to go still in the cafe as we listened to the harmony of their voices.

I looked over to the other tables, and I saw that even Hugo and Vain seem to relax at their voices. “Hugo,” Vain said quietly, “do you remember this song?”

He nodded. “This is Dad's favorite song. I feel like I can sing it from memory.” To my surprise, their voices joined in harmony.

Listening to their voices, to their song, peace washed over me. ' _I wish that I could stay in this moment forever..'_

 

“Well, it's about time to head to sleep..” We had stayed up talking for a long time, but even Zeus and Hiro, surprisingly, were looking tired.

“Come on,” Lucious told Felix, “I'll show you to the dorms.”

Felix nodded and started to follow him. His expression was perfectly calm, betraying no emotion, but, as he passed me by, he whispered playfully in my ear. “ _You know, Dragonkins are excellent dancers as well~”_

My face went bright red, and I saw the others looking at me in concern, but I shook my head. I couldn't explain that to them. ..Still, it took me a while to calm my racing heart that night.

 

Once again, I found myself in the Castle in the Sky, but I felt strangely calm as I walked through the halls. ' _This must be another dream. I wonder what I'll see tonight?'_

And a chill swept down my spine as I heard two voices singing- the same two voices I had heard only a few hours before in the cafe. But this time, another voice, sweet and clear, joined them. I ducked around a corner, but I couldn't resist a peek.

My heart leapt into my throat at the sight. Felix and Lacan and Willem were together, their song filling the halls. I had never seen them look so happy.

But.. I couldn't take my eyes off of Felix. For the first time since that night, he had his hood pulled back, and his eyes were shining bright with joy. ' _He's beautiful..'_

 

 

My heart was still racing as I woke up in the Night Cafe; I realized I must've fallen asleep on one of the couches in the cafe. ' _What a lovely dream..'_

-And then I heard a piercing scream. ' _That sounds like it's coming from Zeus and Hiro's dorm-'_ Immediately, I got to my feet, bolting to the room. _'I let my guard down too much- I hadn't thought that he'd be attacked again-'_

As soon as I threw open the door to the dorm, there was a cacophony of noises, a flurry of light and darkness. “Get away from him!” I heard Zeus yell in between spells. Lucious and Hiro were shooting off spells as quick as they could.

My heart caught in my throat as I saw Felix was caught in someone's grip- a figure in a dark cloak, his sword caught in Felix's hands.

_'Felix is in danger, I don't have any time to hesitate!'_ In an instant, I whipped out my wand.

“Saggita Lumen!” In a split second, the man raised a barrier, releasing Felix in the process. In the instant that he was distracted, Felix released a barrage of black arrows.

“The magic of my people is not yours to steal!” he snarled. The figure turned to me, and, for a split second, his eyes shifted from hazel to a brilliant green-

' _I know those eyes- Those eyes are just like his-'_

“What a shame, I thought that I could get somewhere in my work tonight,” the man said; his voice was a low, deep growl. “But that's all right. I'll soon have all the time that I need to achieve my goal.”

“Who are you?” I yelled. “Why are you stealing Dragonkin magic?”

“Don't worry, wizardess,” the man said. “You'll find out soon enough. But it's time for me to go.” I ran towards him, but the man was gone in the blink of an eye.

“He got away!” I jumped as Felix let out a colorful spray of curses. “After all that research, I was a hairsbreadth away from losing everything-”

“Felix!” I cried out, running to his side. “Are you all right? That sword- he didn't get you, did he?”

He raised his hand, and black lightning crackled as his fingertips. He sighed as he let his hand fall to his side, and he turned to face me. He smiled in relief. “Luckily, my magic is still intact."

Still, my worry would not go away. ' _It took Willem a few days to realize that his magic had been stolen. What if it's the same for Felix?'_

“Felix, you should see if Alfonse can look at you tomorrow,” I told him firmly. “Just to make sure, all right?”

He looked taken aback for a second, and then he nodded. “S-sure.”And then he shook his head, turning to the others. “As for you three..”

Zeus raised his chin, folding his arms as he faced Felix. Hiro and Lucious met his eyes steadily. “What about us?”

Felix hesitated for only a moment, and then he raised his chin as well. “I owe you my thanks. As much as I hate to admit it.. I don't know if I could have managed that by myself. If the three of you hadn't been there, I think the magic of the Dragonkin would have been truly lost.”

“Oh.” Even Zeus seemed at a loss for words for a minute, and then he grinned. “No problem!” The other two nodded as well.

Despite the attack, my heart warmed. ' _I think things are going to be okay.'_

 

_Alfonse: Did you see that? Liz has gotten so good at dancing! I taught her how to do that!_

_Zeus: Ha, you should see me dance!_

_Alfonse: Huh? I didn't know you could dance!_

_Zeus: I am nobility, you know! I was taught to dance as soon as I could walk!_

_Alfonse: That's pretty impressive~ I bet you and Liz would have a lot of fun dancing together!_

_Zeus: Darn right we would! Not that I've.. ever gotten to dance with her._

_Alfonse: Come to think of it, neither have I, really. Not on screen anyway.._

_Zeus: Are we the only ones?_

_Alfonse: .._

_Zeus: .._

_Alfonse: Next time, To Guard a Dragon._

 

 

 


	5. To Guard a Dragon

“This is ridiculous-”

“Felix, don't argue with the doctor,” Willem said gently. Felix quieted down a bit, but I could still hear him grumbling.

As I had suggested, when we met the next morning, Felix had asked Alfonse to check him out, grumbling all the while- especially when Alfonse had asked him to take off his hood. That had taken some convincing..

“Okay, I think you're all clear. No ill effects,” Alfonse declared as he stepped away. Felix pulled his hood back on. “Thank goodness.”

“..Thank you,” Felix said, looking away.

“He just gets nervous around doctors,” Willem said cheerily as we walked out to meet the others. “Always has, ever since we were-”

“ _Willem-”_

“Let's go through this again,” Vain said with a sigh. “Can you describe the person who attacked you?”

“They were definitely a shapeshifter,” Felix reported. “They tried appearing to me as Lacan again, but, when the princ- when the others came to fight, he started shifting to try to throw them off as well.”

I remembered the moment that I had seen the shapeshifter. I had barely been able to see him, but his eyes.. ' _His eyes looked like Felix's,'_ I thought; I felt a lump in my throat. Did it matter who he appeared to me as?

“He also carried a blade with him, but, unfortunately, he took it with him when he fled, so I didn't get a good look at it.”

“A blade-” Willem said, eyes wide. “I remember now! The man who attacked me carried a sword as well. I didn't think he landed a blow on me, but he cut my side with the sword. That must have been when he took my magic!”

“You're right. Even when I faced him before,” Felix mused, “he never got me with his sword. But if he had cut me even once with his blade- it would have been game over.” I shivered. It would have been way too easy for him to get an attack in.

“This is going to make it even harder for us to find him,” Hugo groaned. “If that's all it takes, then it would be risky to even go into battle against him.”

“On the other hand,” Caesar mused, “this might work to our advantage. Perhaps if we could get our hands on his blade, we could stop them.”

“Do you think that would work?” I asked.

“It worked for my Armor Breaker,” Hiro pointed out. “It's worth a shot, at least.”

“We need to get our hands on that sword however possible,” Felix said.

“Even if you're putting yourself in danger?” I asked. Felix pursed his lips but didn't say a word.

 

As the others talked, Willem suddenly pulled me aside. “Can I speak to you alone?” I nodded. “Have you had any more strange dreams recently? Particularly anything having to do with the Castle?”

It was a bit of a strange question, but.. I remembered what he had said, that my dreams might have been because of my connection to the Goddess Crystal. “Last night, I dreamed that I saw the three of you singing in the Castle.”

“Last night..” He was quiet for a moment. “Did you have any strange dreams the first night that Felix was attacked?”

“I don't think so.” I searched my memories, trying to remember what I'd dreamed about on that night, but I couldn't remember anything. “Oh! That night, I had been so worried about everything going on that I couldn't get to sleep.” By the time I had left Willem's house, it had been early morning. I had gone without sleep throughout the next day of classes too.

“I see. This is only a guess, but.. I wonder if we might be able to use your dreams may be acting as a warning. It seems like the nights you see our memories are the nights of an attack.”

“Can we be certain?” I asked. It certainly wouldn't be the strangest dreams I had, honestly..

“I don't know. But it would be best to keep an eye out for now. If anything else unusual happens, don't be afraid to let me know, all right?”

“Of course.”

 

It had been a few nights since the attack, and things were passing as normal. And yet.. despite all of our searching, we still had yet to find any info about the attacker.

' _Maybe I can ask Klaus if we can look in the Ministry library again,'_ I thought when there was a knock on my door.

“Goddess, I need to ask for a favor.” When I opened my door, I saw Vain standing on my porch.

“What do you need?”

“Tonight was supposed to be my night to guard Felix, but something came up. Would you mind switching shifts with me? You're the one closest to him anyway. Well, besides Willem, but there's not much he can do to help him anyway.” There was something strange in his expression, but I couldn't place it.

_'Must just be my imagination,'_ I thought.

“Sure, I don't mind.”

“Just remember this, little bunny,” Vain told me as he turned away, “we may be our same side, but he is still our enemy.”

 

Remarkably, having the Dragon King sitting in my living room was not as strange the second time around. When I came out to check on him, he was looking blankly out of my window, lost in thought. I followed his gaze out of the window.

“It's gonna be a long night,” I commented idly. “It's only sunset now.”

“Twilight. It's not sunset until the sun is..” He caught himself and shook his head; I couldn't help but smile at him.

“So you did know the difference after all.” He looked up at me in confusion. “Willem told me you and Lacan used to tease him about it. The only thing that could get him riled up, he said.”

He bowed his head. “That.. feels like a lifetime ago,” he said quietly. “That must've been back when the war first started.”

I wondered if I should tell him that I had seen it in my dream, but.. “I- I actually saw that.” He tilted his head. “The night that Willem was attacked, I had a dream about the three of you. I think.. I think it had to do with my connection with the Goddess Crystal.” He listened quietly as I told him about my dreams, the same thing that I had told Willem only a few hours before.

“I see. If it had been anybody else, I might've been more embarrassed that you saw those memories. But somehow, I don't mind that it's you. ..But you didn't think that it was strange at all?”

I answered without thinking, “Well, it wasn't the first time I saw you in my dreams-”

“Oh?”

“I..” I didn't know how to answer that question, but I couldn't back down now. “Before you were released, Hugo showed me these visions-”

“Stop.” He tore his gaze from mine, and I didn't press it. We sat in silence for a long time.

' _I need to change the subject. What do I say?'_

“Hey, I was, uh, going to try baking something again. If you'd like, I'd appreciate the help..”

“That sounds nice.” Maybe this would be a chance to get closer to him.

“If you were a baker, was there any thing in particular you liked?” I prompted gently.

His gaze dropped to his feet, but I heard his mumbled answer anyway. I smiled. “Well, I think I have ingredients for that.” And he brightened up just a bit.

 

My little kitchen was mostly quiet as we started getting our baking supplies together, but I heard a sweet small sound.

' _He's humming..'_ I felt like I could listen to his humming forever. We worked in silence, gathering ingredients, no sound but his sweet humming.

And then he suddenly yelped, clutching his hand. “Are you all right?”

He flushed. “I, uh, think I burned my hand.”

“Let me look at it.” He quietly offered his hand. When I looked, I could see a slight burn. “Sanatio Aura.” The redness quickly disappeared.

“Amazing,” he muttered. And, as I looked up at him, I realized that I was standing very close to him. And my heart raced as I met his eyes. I had never noticed how green they were.

“..Do you mind if I ask you something that I've been wondering for a while?” He looked up at me. It felt a little too personal to ask, but I couldn't help but wonder.. “Why do you always wear that hood? I've only seen you without it once.”

He was quiet, looking away. I started to say something, to take my words back, but he spoke first. “It.. feels like a form of protection.”

“What do you mean?”

“I'm sure that you already know that the only way that a Dragonkin can be fully injured is if something happens to our horns,” he said quietly, and I nodded. “During the war.. when so many of our numbers fell, the horns of a Dragonkin became a _trophy_ to the humans.”

My stomach churned at his words. “That's horrible. I never knew..”

“When I started wearing this.. it felt like my way of saying that, no matter how many of us fell, they could not take mine. I've been covering them ever since.”

“I can understand that,” I said gently. I couldn't imagine what I would have done if I was in his place. To see of all of my friends fall, being helpless to stop it-

“Truth be told.. When I freed Willem from the Ministry, that was the first thing I noticed. Even after these years, even after everything the humans did, he never once tried to hide who he was. He wanted to stand as a symbol of our people. Even when the rest of us were lost, Willem still remained.”

“I can't imagine..” What must it have been like, to carry that burden for so long? “The memory of the Dragonkins resting on his shoulders..”

“And then there were two of us,” Felix mused, picking up his bowl again. “Even then, we were divided on what the future of the Dragonkin would be. He wanted to try peace, and I- Well, we all know how that story goes.”

My heart was in my throat as I listened to him. He almost sounded.. regretful. ' _I should ask him. This could be my chance to change his mind.'_

“And..” I raised my chin as I faced him, “what do you want for the Dragonkin now?”

The answer came easily enough, when he faced me. “If the future of the Dragonkin is left in one of our hands, right now.. I think I'd rather it be Willem.”

 

“There we go, all done!”

His expression was blank, but I could see his eyes were shining as I presented the finished cake. ' _Who knew that he would get this excited about cake? It's actually kinda adorable.'_

We took a seat on the couch, and I carefully cut slices for each of us. I handed him a slice.

He immediately burst out in a grin as he took a bite. “This is delicious! I don't think I've had a cake this wonderful since before the war!”

“I'm glad to hear that. I couldn't have done it without you,” I said.

“This brings back memories,” he said as we ate. When I looked up, his gaze was far away, lost in thought. “I remember delivering cake to the people of my village. They'd order the same thing every week, and yet somehow I still found myself running late every time, just from talking to everyone. I'd have to send Minidragons to do my deliveries.”

It was strange to hear him talk so freely about the past. But it was sweet to imagine him making deliveries, Minidragons at his heels. “Are there any deliveries that stood out to you?”

“There's one that I always remember,” Felix said, resting his chin in his hands. “The local blacksmith family.. The mom would always order donuts every week for her family, a dozen in a box- and one spicy one for her son. None of the rest of the family liked them, but he was crazy for them. I never understood that. Even when we were..” He stopped, his eyes downcast, and it hit me.

“Was that.. Lacan's family?” He nodded wordlessly, avoiding my gaze. That was the first time he'd mentioned Lacan in a long time. My heart hurt at his expression. “You must miss him terribly.”

“Every day.”

 

This time, when I dreamed, I found myself in a forest instead of a castle. But, just when I was trying to make sense of my surroundings, I heard footsteps pounding- and a voice yelling.

“Get back here!”

“Nuh-uh!” another voice- a child's voice- yelled. “This is the first time I've been out here, I wanna go exploring!” I started to look around for the source of the voices, but it was hard to see anything through the trees.

“We're going to get in trouble if we go too far from the camp!” I ducked behind a tree, looking for the sources of the voices.

“Come on, little one,” a small feminine voice called. “All that's waiting for you is trouble.” I knew that voice, but I couldn't quite place her-

“Gotcha!”

I turned to see them, and my heart caught in my throat. The younger one was squirming in his brother's arms. Though they were many years younger, I recognized them, the brilliant red hair of the older one, the silver hair of the child. ' _That's-'_

 

When I woke up, it took a minute for me to realize where I was. I was on my couch in my cabin- and my head had been resting against Felix's shoulder.

“Did you sleep well?” I heard a note of amusement in his voice, but my mind was racing. Something was wrong, all wrong. Was that just a dream or was it a vision? Was it a warning?

“I.. I had another dream. I think that.. I think that it was a warning of another attack.”

He quickly got to his feet. “How long do we have?”

“No-” I thought we had figured out the pattern. So then why- “It felt like a warning, but it wasn't you that I saw. I saw _Hugo and Vain.”_

His eyes darkened. “Where are they now?”

My mind was racing. I didn't know which one would be attacked, but if we could find one..

I grabbed Felix's hand. “Come on, we have to find them!” I ran out the door, running to Hugo's house, pounding on his door. “Hugo! Please, open the door! Are you in there?”

I heard him grumble as he opened up the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Goddess? What's the matter?”

Suddenly standing before him, I didn't know how to explain. “I.. I had a premonition,” I said. “I saw a vision of you and Vain- I think that one of you is going to be attacked tonight!”

Felix immediately asked, “Where's Vain?”

“He said that he was going to go patrol the forest,” Hugo said, and, from the forest, I heard- a blood curdling scream.

 

Caesar: Woah, that seems like a scary situation! I hope everyone's going to be all right.

Lucious: ..

Caesar: Are you all right?

Lucious: Yeah, it's just.. what they said about carrying the legacy of your people.

Caesar: Oh. Hit a little close to home?

Lucious: Yeah.

Caesar: Oh yeah, that must suck. But, uh, look at it this way! You have all of us to help you! We'll help you keep that memory alive!

Lucious: Really?

Caesar: Yeah! You've got all of us to help you!

Lucious: Thank you.

Caesar: And maybe.. I wonder if we can help Felix out too.

Lucious: Next time, 'The Brothers Peers'.

 


	6. The Brothers Peers

As the three of us raced into the forest, we saw that Vain wasn't alone, facing a black-cloaked figure.

And then my gaze fell on Vain, standing tall but breathing heavily. His back was to us, but I could see that he was starting to sweat, clutching his arm. He muttered something under his breath.

We rushed to his side, but, as he heard us-

"Huh?" Vain's head shot up. "What are you-"

The instant that he moved, breaking eye contact, the man moved- slashing down Vain's side!

"Vain!"

With Hugo's cry, it was as though the world was frozen-

I looked to the figure, and I remembered what the others had said. "Hugo, if we can get that sword, we might be able to stop them. You take care of Vain, and I'll grab the sword." He was wavering for only a moment before he nodded. As he knelt at Vain's side, I ran to the figure.

_'I need to be careful,'_ I thought, _'there's no telling what that sword could do to me.'_ I reached for the hilt of the blade, trying to pull it from his fingertips. But, even when frozen, his grip was ironclad. _'Come on, come on-'_

"Liz, I don't know how much longer I can hold this-" Hugo cried out.

"I can't get the sword from him!"

I took a deep breath, steeling myself. _'Even if I can't get the sword from him, I should be able to get some sort of information-'_ My gaze fell to the hilt, and I saw a single name inscribed there: _'Dailon'._

-Aaand, suddenly, they weren't so still anymore. His eyes turned green as the man's gaze fell on me. "You should be careful, O Goddess of Time," he said. Beneath his cloak, his hair was starting to turn blonde. "This blade was meant for the blood of dragons, but perhaps I should see what it can do against the magic of a Goddess?"

I took a step back. _'All it takes is one cut-'_

"Get away from her!" Suddenly, there was a barrier of darkness between me and the blade, shielding me completely. I nearly fell back in relief, my heart thundering in my chest. "Bad enough that you steal the magic of a Dragonkin, but you'll even turn on your own?!"

"Felix," I called, "be careful-"

"You need not worry," the man said coolly as he stepped back. "The magic of the prince is at my disposal; there will be time to take the Dragon King's soon enough."

"You won't get away!" Felix roared; he raised his hand, and a flurry of black arrows rained down on the attacker, but a barrier was quickly raised.

"A battle against the king sounds tempting; I haven't had a chance to test out the power of the Twilight Reciter yet, but it looks like we'll both have to wait a while." And, just like that, the man was gone.

"We were so close!" Felix roared. "We could have stopped him, we could have gotten Willem's magic, all we had to do was get our hands on that sword! With Willem's power and Vain's-"

And Vain suddenly fell to the ground. “Vain..”

"Now's not the time to argue," I said. "We need to get Vain somewhere stable." Felix's expression smoothed out, and he knelt down and gathered Vain in his arms.

“Where to?” Vain had told me he was our enemy, but.. he didn't feel like one.

"We'll take him back to my house," Hugo said. "Get Alfonse here as soon as you can."

 

It had been a long time since I had seen Hugo so nervous, pacing outside the room. And I could hardly blame him; my mind was in a whirl as we waited for Alfonse.

Felix turned to me as we settled down. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly. I nodded.

“Thank you,” I told him. “I'm not sure what I would have done what I would have done if you weren't there.”

“It was nothing,” he said.

We sat in silence for a while, and my gaze turned to Hugo. My heart ached for him. “Poor Hugo,” I said. “I can't imagine how he must be feeling right now.”

“It is only natural to worry when one's family is hurt,” Felix said gently.

“I never had any siblings, but.. my friends are like my family now. We've been through a lot of trouble together, so, whenever one of them gets hurt, I can't help but worry,” I admitted.

“I can understand that,” Felix said. “The people of the Dragonkin were like my own family.”

“No wonder you wanted to bring them back,” I said, and he nodded.

He started to say something, but he looked away, so I didn't press him.

After a minute, I decided to change the subject. “I still can't understand why this happened. I thought that only Dragonkins would be targeted, so why was Vain a target?”

“Perhaps it has something to do with power levels?” Willem suggested. “From what I've seen, he is quite powerful.”

“I wonder.. I wonder if it has to do with Hugo's prophecy,” I said.

“A prophecy?” Felix asked.

I froze, unsure of how to explain. _'Do I tell him about Hugo's prophecy?'_ He had been our enemy for so long. But.. for now, we were fighting on the same side. He had fought to protect Vain in that forest. He had fought to protect _me._

I looked up at Hugo, wondering what he would think. He glanced at Felix and nodded.

"The day after Willem was attacked, Hugo had a vision. I'm wondering if they could all be connected.."

"The Dragon King and the One Who Waits," Hugo said. Willem disappeared into another room; when he came back, he handed me the piece of paper with the prophecy. I began to read out the prophecy once more.

_"Three beings eternal time tore apart again and again,"_ I read. _"By war, by death, finally by choice. The Dragon King, the One Who Slumbers, the One Who Waits. Night by night by night, then the blood of Dragons and humans come together, the powerful become powerless- and the powerful become one. Dreams become reality, the Dragon King will fall- and the.."_ The words caught in my throat at the last part. Something told me to stop there.

_'..And the Reciters will be born again.'_

Felix had stood on our side and fought to protect us. But if he knew that there was a chance that.. that Lacan could wake up again, what would he do?

"These pieces are starting to make sense," Willem mused. "Three beings eternal, that would be the three Reciters."

"Am I to assume that the Dragon King is referring to me?" Felix asked.

"It would hardly be the first time you've been referred to as that," Hugo grumbled. Surprisingly, Felix let that pass.

"The 'One Who Waits' would be me, I'd guess." Willem sighed. "Which just leaves.."

"Lacan as the One Who Slumbers," Felix finished. "But there's something that I don't understand. You said three times, right? But I only count twice at best. By war- and by choice. The war with humans, I understand. By choice.. That would be our last battle at the castle, I'm assuming."

"Perhaps it's not referring to an actual death?" I suggested. "For example, it could have been when you were sealed away?" Felix shook his head. "Okay, let's go onto the next part. When the blood of Dragons and humans come together.."

"Could that be referring to humans and Dragonkins working together?" Willem suggested.

"I.. I think I have an idea what that could be referring to," Hugo started to say, but suddenly the door opened. Our gaze all fell on Vain as he came out of the room. He held his head high, but I saw how he clutched at his side.

"What did he say?" Hugo asked worriedly, and Vain shook his head, taking a seat.

"It's too late," he said. "My magic is gone."

"I'm so sorry.." I murmured, and he just looked down.

“Vain, why didn't you tell me you were going out?” Hugo asked. “If we had any sort of warning-”

"I needed to know, Hugo," Vain said; his expression was blank, but I could hear the strain in his voice.

"There's still something that I don't understand," I said, and Vain's gaze fell on me. "I thought that we had this figured out. I thought that only the Dragonkin were attacked, so why.. why would he come after you?" Silence. "Does this mean that he could come after anyone?"

"II can't take this anymore," Hugo said suddenly. "The truth is-"

"Hugo, stop!" Vain snarled, and Hugo whirled on him.

"They need to know the truth! You can't just ask me to sit here and watch you get hurt!" Vain's gaze dropped to the ground.

"Hugo-"

"I'm going to give you one chance, Vain," Hugo snarled. "Tell them or I will."

"Vain?"

He was quiet for a long moment, and then he sighed. “..There was no mistake,” he said at last. “The only ones who have been attacked have been Dragonkins.”

Oh. _Oh._ “You're.. you two are Dragonkins?”

“Of a sort,” Hugo said. "Our father is a Dragonkin; our mother was human."

"Why did you never tell us?" Alfonse asked gently, and he wouldn't meet our eyes.

"We never told anyone," he answered quietly. "Even our comrades in the future had no idea. We've spent all of our lives fighting against them; what would they do if they knew that we were Dragonkins ourselves?" My heart ached at his words.

“I can't imagine..”

Vain sighed. "It wasn't until these attacks happened that we started second guessing. Up until now, neither of us have been attacked.. But it started to seem like it was only a matter of time. That's why I went out tonight. I had.. a feeling that I'd be the next target, and I had to make sure for myself."

“You should have told us from the start,” Felix snarled. “We can't let Dragonkin magic fall into the wrong hands! If we had known you were a target, we could have protected you!”

“I was doing just fine by myself! If you hadn't ruined everything, I could have gotten Willem's magic back- and I wouldn't have lost mine!”

“Yeah,” Felix said with a laugh, “you sure looked like you were handling things just fine.”

“Shut up!” Vain suddenly lurched forward and grabbed Felix by the collar of his robes. “Who do you think you are? Do you think you're suddenly going to be our protector just because we're Dragonkin?”

_'I have to do something!'_

I grabbed Vain by the arm. “Vain, stop!” I pulled him away, and he stopped, turning away. Felix's look of anger smoothed over quickly.

“Your father.. what was his name?”

“His name's Harkin,” Vain said quietly.

“Harkin.. I knew him,” Felix said at last. “He was.. a good man.”

"I wonder..” Willem said suddenly. “I've heard of half-Dragonkins before, but.. I thought that all of them had been lost.”

"Really?"

"When I was.. when I was released from my imprisonment," Willem explained, slight hesitation in his voice, "the first thing I did was start searching for other Dragonkin who had survived the war. I searched for a long time, but.. I could only find reports of one- a Dragonkin woman who married a human man. It was even said that they had children, children who were said to be to be more powerful than her. But.. no matter how much I searched, I couldn't find her or her children. That was right before the Hundred Days War.. I presumed that they had died there."

"This woman," I asked, "what was her name?"

Willem paused for a moment, searching his memories. "..Dailon."

 

Luca: So you're a Dragonkin?

Hugo: ..Yes. Half, anyway.

Luca: Does that mean you don't need to eat or sleep? I heard the Dragonkin can recharge on the elements! Can you?

Hugo: I still require those things. The recharging problem is a different matter..

Luca: Oh yeah, if you're a Dragonkin, why don't you have any horns?

Hugo: Fortunately, our human halves are more predominant.

Luca: Oh, I guess that makes sense. Although that would have made you look a lot cooler as the messenger of time! Much cooler than that mask!

Hugo: ..Was there something wrong with my mask?

Luca: Uh-oh, look at the time, gotta go!

Hugo: Next time, 'Dailon'.

 


	7. Dailon

"So, Felix, this must be quite awkward for you, huh?"

Felix looked up to Zeus's grinning face. "What do you mean?"

“Going back to the Ministry! The last time you were here, you were breaking Willem out. Isn't it a little odd now?"

I couldn't help but giggle at the memory of earlier that day, talking to Klaus..

 

_"I know this is asking a lot," I told him, "but it would really help if we could access the Ministry archives to find out more about Dailon."_

_"There is no way!" Klaus protested. "It was hard enough to get Thanatos to allow Willem to visit the Ministry, there is no way that he'd allow Felix to come back-"_

_Vain coughed awkwardly. "About that.."_

 

"I've wondered this for a while," Zeus mused, "how did you do it? They said you destroyed the barrier around the Ministry."

“Mini-Dragons," Felix answered easily. "The barrier was nothing compared to their power."

"I remember facing your Minidragons before," Zeus said with a shudder. "That's terrifying."

"My power has always been best suited to battle," Felix mused. "That's something that I can do, at least." Was it just me, or did his voice sound a little sad?

“I can only imagine. I know I haven't enjoyed the times I've fought you,” Caesar said. I heard Hugo quietly agree.

“Come to think of it, if you have all these powers, couldn't you use them against whoever we're fighting?” Zeus asked. Should I be worried that his eyes were shining with excitement?

“..Like what?”

“Like summoning shadows-”

“Or clones!”

“Can't forget about the Kraken.”

Felix sighed, rubbing his forehead. “If I had the time and all of my tools, then, yes, theoretically, I could create more clones. However, I haven't been able to get to my tools since we made our deal.”

“Thank goodness..”

“Not to mention, Minidragons are just another form of shadow, really.” The others were all looking at him now. “Almost all of my powers are just creating shadows. It's just putting them in a smaller form that's more.. convenient.”

The others started to ask him a bunch of questions about his powers, which he answered easily.

 

I could feel wary eyes on us as we walked to the Ministry, but I kept my head up. I felt something brush against my hand. I glanced over; Felix was at my side, looking ahead.

Klaus led us through the halls of the Ministry. "These are all of our records on the Hundred Days War," Klaus told us. "If you need anything, I'll be down the hall."

“Thank you, Klaus," I told him, and he went on his way. I turned to the archives.

_'There seems to be even more books than last time,'_ I thought with a sigh.

"Well," I said, reaching for a book, "I guess we better get started."

 

I sighed as I set down my book. ' _Nothing in this one'._ It had been a few hours since we had arrived at the archives, and we had yet to find anything.

I looked around at my friends; they were starting to set down their own books, their eyes distant. "It looks like everyone's really tired.." Scarcely had I said that then I felt weariness wash over me.

Felix looked at me with amusement. “If you're tired, Goddess,” he said lightly, “you should get some rest.”

“Easy for you to say,” I grumbled. “Lucky Dragonkins don't need to sleep.” At times like this, I really envied their ability to go without sleep.

“But it looks like even Goddesses need to sleep,” he said with humor. “Get some sleep now; we can keep researching in the morning.”

I wanted to say I wasn't tired, but another wave of drowsiness passed over me. Maybe sleeping wasn't so bad.

* * *

**Felix**

Before long, most of the group had fallen asleep, and, as I tried to read my book, I could hear two voices bickering.

"You need to get some rest, you can barely keep your eyes open."

"If I fall asleep now," Hugo argued, "I know that you're just going to stay up."

"Hugo, I'll be fine-"

"You're still recovering from that attack, Vain!"

As I listened to them bicker, I heard a familiar laugh. "Remind you of anyone?" I tore my gaze away, looking up to see that Willem had come to sit beside me.

"I remember you getting quite a few lectures from Lacan along those lines," I said, and then immediately regretted it. I felt a pang in my heart when I said his name.

I wondered.. was he still suffering, as I had? But.. there was nothing that I could do for him now.

Willem's laughter broke me out of my reverie. "I feared Lacan's lectures, but you were worse!"

"Well, you had a habit of getting yourself into stupid situations," I pointed out. I bit back my words, _'Like getting your magic stolen'._ "..How are you doing now?"

"I'm all right," he reassured me. "I'm still getting used to not having my magic, but it's not so bad. I just wish that I could be of more use to you."

Hard to believe he wasn't 'of use'. "You're fine," I said. "I'm just glad that you're here."

"What about you?" he asked.

“What do you mean?"

"You seem.. different. More relaxed."

I practically snorted. "Relaxed? What makes you say that?" He glanced past my shoulder; when I followed his gaze, I saw that Liz had fallen asleep, curled up at my side.

..I hated how my heart skipped a beat when I looked at her.

Was there truth in his words? Now, there was every chance that my magic could be stolen away in a heartbeat, and yet.. I felt more at ease than I had in millennia. Not when Willem had been at my side; not when my concern had been searching for information on enemies who believed I would destroy the future. Even during the war, when Willem and Lacan both stood proudly at my side, I spent every moment worrying about what would be, about our people.

Every time I was with her, I felt at ease. Fighting alongside her, laughing with her, even baking with her. It had been a long time since I had done any of that, but it was easy with her..

Stranger still, she- and her friends- at ease with me. Even the brothers were soon snoozing. Snoring, in fact.

"I don't understand. We were enemies, and yet they now fight at my side." When my magic was at risk, they had guarded me and fought for me.

"Is it any stranger than how you fought for them? Liz said that you protected Vain.." I didn't know how to answer that. It was true that I had fought for them, and I'd be lying if I said I knew why.

_'Perhaps I'm over thinking this,'_ I decided at last. For now.. it benefited them to help me, and it benefited me to help them. As long as that remained, I'd fight by their side. That was all there was to it, I thought.

* * *

 

I awoke to a gentle humming sound. When I opened my eyes, I saw Felix at my side, humming as he flipped through his book. But, when I looked up, I noticed something surprising: his hood had been pulled back.

Felix suddenly glanced down at me, studying my expression. "Did you have any more strange dreams?" he asked.

I searched my memories, but I couldn't remember what I had dreamed about. That was a good sign, right? "I don't think so.."

"That's good."

Suddenly, I heard a shout. "I found it!" I looked up at Willem's cry, and we all gathered around him as he read. Felix quietly pulled his hood back up.

"A Dragonkin woman showed up in Queensblade. Her powers were weak, and so she was allowed to live among us in peace. She settled in Queensblade and married a human man, having three sons with him, Altan, Stellan, and Sulien.

"However, as her children grew, their power became more and more apparent. It was said that the child of a Dragonkin and a human would grow more and more powerful; it was believed that the three would have power to rival the Dragonkin Reciters. Stellan, the middle child, was gifted with dark magic, and Altan, the youngest, shocked the kingdom by wielding the element of Twilight, an element thought lost when the Dragonkin were sealed away. It is unknown what element Sulien wielded.

"When Dailon died, the three sons combined their power and created a blade of great power in their mother's name." A chill swept down my spine at his words.

_'So that must have been the blade that our enemy carries,'_ I thought.

"Although both sides asked for the brothers to be on their side, they rejected all offers, choosing to protect their home. During the battles, their home was overrun. Atlan was killed, and Stellan was taken prisoner," I heard the pain in Willem's voice as he read the words, "succumbing to his wounds once the war ended. Sulien vanished when the war ended, and it is unknown what happened to him."

My heart broke as I thought of how the three of them must've felt, just trying to protect their home, and everything fell apart around them.

Felix glanced away. “Dragonkin.. All of this time, our enemy was a Dragonkin..” A thousand emotions flickered across his face, but then it smoothed out. “Well.. At the least, we know the name of our enemy.”

"But not much else. It's been a hundred years since the war," Zeus pointed out. "If he has had this power for all of this time, why would he only act now?"

"Perhaps he was waiting for the right time," Vain answered. "If his main power is stealing magic from others, perhaps he was waiting for someone with the right power to come along. Surely everyone has heard of the power of the remaining Dragonkins by now.."

"Is it possible," Lucious asked, "that he was waiting for other half-Dragonkin like him to show up?" Hugo and Vain glanced at each other. "If you were one of his targets, obviously he knew that you had that ancestry too."

"Not to mention," Caesar said with a wince, "it's not as though the two of you are weak yourselves."

"When the blood of Dragons and humans come together.. Is that what you meant?”

"I had a feeling that was what the prophecy meant, but I couldn't tell you," Hugo said with a sigh. "And now that we know that our enemy is half-Dragonkin as well.."

“Augh, it still doesn't seem like we have enough information!" Zeus said, throwing up his hands.

I thought about it for a long minute. "Well, the book said that Dailon and her sons settled down in Queensblade, right? Perhaps we could find some more information there, especially if we could find their home. Besides, I doubt he'd expect us to be there, would he?"

The others exchanged a glance, and I could hear them murmuring in agreement. But Felix looked a bit nervous. "Queensblade.."

"Is something the matter?"

"I.. I doubt I would be welcome in Queensblade after everything that I did to Queen Zenobia," Felix pointed out. Everyone else looked hesitant at his words, murmuring in agreement.

Oh. Right. This was going to be more difficult than I imagined, wasn't it?

 

Vincent: Geez, they visit the Ministry, and I don't even get to show up.

Klaus: To be fair, that library room is really crowded. With everyone in there, I doubt anyone else could've fit in there.

Vincent: And yet Hugo and Vain were there. Vain doesn't even have magic anymore! ..I could've shown them to the best bakery in town. I bet Felix would have loved that.

Klaus: To be fair, Vain did turn out to have a very good reason for why he'd be in the Ministry.

Vincent: What did he tell you, anyway?

Klaus: ..Seems he's Thanatos.

Vincent: WHAT.

Klaus: Next time, 'The King and Queen'.

Vincent: You can't just leave me like that!

 


	8. The King and Queen

“Felix, please sit down..”

He was pacing in the train as we were on our way to Queensblade. I'd never known him to be so nervous- I didn't know that he could get that nervous.

"It's not easy to relax," he said. "I'll likely be thrown in jail by the Imperial Guards as soon as I set foot in Queensblade."

"To be fair," Hugo mused, "it's easier to break out of those cells than you think.."

"Yeah, it's easy when you have the power of time manipulation!" Lucious pointed out.

"Felix," I called gently, "come sit with me. We'll figure something out." He hesitated, but he took a seat beside me. I thought for a minute. "Is there a way we can disguise you?"

He looked at me for a long moment. "Queen Zenobia is your friend, isn't she?" I nodded. "I.. I don't want to make you have to lie to her for me."

"That's a surprise," Zeus commented. "You almost sound regretful."

"Is that such a surprise?" Felix said, but he didn't say anything after that, merely looking out of the window.

 

"Zeus, do you know of any place here where the family might have stayed?"

"Let me think-"

"Halt!" I froze as I saw the guards approaching. In our defense, it had been a few hours that we had been wandering around in Queensblade, just trying to figure out where to go.

"I told you that he should have stayed back in Gedonelune," Vain grumbled. Logically, I knew that would have been better, but.. for some reason, I felt uneasy at the thought of leaving him back in the village. Besides, he had told us that he wanted to go with us.

"We had reports of a suspicious figure moving through Queensblade, but none of us suspected it would be Felix himself. You're coming with us; I'm sure the Queen would have a few words for you."

I tried to think of anything to say, but Felix stopped me, shaking his head. "It's all right," he said quietly. "I'll go with them." I felt a lump in my throat as he looked at me.

 

Soon, all of us were waiting outside of the Queen's throne room; they told us that all of us were suspicious, but..

"Felix, the Queen is ready for you. The rest of you will wait out here."

"Wait!" I stepped forward, but the guards pointed their wands at me. "Please, let me go with him!" I don't know what possessed me to speak out, but I didn't regret it.

"Liz, just wait there-"

"I am friends with Queen Zenobia," I said. "I can explain the situation." The guards glanced at each other and sighed, leading the two of us into the throne room.

My heart raced as I saw her sitting on her throne. She was my dear friend, but her eyes were cold as she looked upon Felix. I could hardly blame her, after everything. "I must say, I was surprised to hear that you were back in my kingdom, Felix; I didn't think you'd dare to bring one of your clones with you, let alone a clone of Liz. I'm curious as to what your goal here is."

"I.. I swear that I didn't come here to harm you," Felix said. "We were searching for information on Dailon and her sons.."

I couldn't watch this. "Queen Shezarade!" I called. "Search my bag; I guarantee that you will find my Promise Pendant there." Her eyes went wide as she looked at me, but she nodded to her guards. When they found it, I breathed a sigh of relief.

_'Thank goodness I still have it...'_ Truth be told, I had just mostly forgotten to take it out of my bag.

"Liz? Is that really you? What are you doing with him?"

I gulped. I had a lot of explaining to do..

 

"I see." Once again, she had Felix waiting outside of the throne room while I had explained everything to Shezarade. "Still, it's quite a surprise to see you at his side."

"It's been quite an unusual couple of weeks," I said quietly; she studied my expression. "After what happened, I don't blame you for being cautious, but.. I feel like he's changed."

She smiled. "I can't say I'm thrilled about this, but I'll trust you. I don't quite understand, but it appears there's something special between the two of you.”

“I.. I, uh..”

“Let's bring him back in." He walked into the throne room, his head bowed, and Shezarade's expression went blank. "Liz has explained to me about the situation with your magic. What do you have to say?"

“Your Highness.. I'd like to apologize for what I did to you. I.. I deeply hurt you and your people." Despite all that I'd seen of him these past few weeks, actually hearing him apologize was strange. "Whatever punishment you see fit for me, I'll accept."

"There is no need," Shezarade said smoothly. "I have not entirely forgiven you, but my friend has trust in you, so I'll trust you too. Besides, Liz and my friends need you. We'll all be in trouble if Sulien gets his hands on your power, won't we?" He glanced away, and I could see the faintest blush on his cheeks, looking for all the world like he had forgotten our mission. I guess worry would do that to you.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"As for Sulien.. The records of the Hundred Day War are ancient, but I'll do what I can to find Sulien's home. We'll find you when we have information."

 

While we were waiting for information from the queen, Zeus took charge and took us to lunch.

"I remember the food here was quite delicious," Willem said as he took a seat at Zeus's restaraunt. We had to find a larger table for our group. "I've been meaning to try their pies."

"I didn't know that you enjoyed human food now, Willem," Felix said. "Let alone pies."

“Oh, they can be quite delicious! When they are not loaded with spices, anyway."

"Spices?" Was it just me, or did Felix go even paler? "They don't put spices in the food here, do they?"

Zeus's eyes took on a sparkle as he looked at Felix. "Oh, you should've seen him when he deals with spices. Last time he had one, he turned into Strange Taffy and started running out the cafe!"

"Zeus, I think that's quite enough-"

"What.. what is Strange Taffy?" Felix asked. Oh, I suppose that he wasn't here for that.

Willem cleared his throat, blushing a bit. "When I was trying to break your seal, I would take another form to get around easier," he explained. "I tried taking the form of this.. teddy bear familiar that I had seen around campus. However.. well, you've seen my efforts with Transformation Magic, and they haven't exactly gotten better over the centuries. You can imagine the results."

To my surprise, Felix burst into laughter, and my heart skipped a beat. His laughter was pure and sweet, nothing like how I had imagined. "I kept telling you that you should've taken me up on those lessons, but you always refused! I would've loved to see this Strange Taffy form of yours!"

"Very well then." Willem's smile was sickeningly sweet as he called over a waiter. "I'd like to order two of your finest fire pies, one for me and one for my friend over there."

"Willem-"

"Is there a problem?" he said sweetly. "I'll have some if you will."

"..Why does it have to be pie?"

"I assumed you didn't want your cake ruined," Willem said. Felix pursed his lips and accepted the plate. I wanted to say something, but it was clear that neither of them was going to back down from the challenge.

Five minutes later, Willem and Felix both took a bite of their pies- and, just like before, Willem wasn't taking it well, although at least he wasn't turning into Strange Taffy this time around.

I looked to Felix, who had suddenly gone very quiet- and very still. He didn't say a word, even with Willem running around.

"..Felix?" I called gently. No response. "Felix?"

There was a dull thunk as he fell onto the table.

Five minutes later, as I finally woke him up, Zeus was still laughing. "Are all Dragonkin this bad at handling spicy food?" Zeus roared through his laughter.

"If we knew Felix was this bad at handling spicy food," Hugo said, hiding his laughter behind his hands, "I think the war would have taken a very different turn.."

"At least I can have it without turning into a plushie!" Felix said.

"Well, what about the two of you?" Zeus said, turning to the Peers brother with a grin. "Can a half-Dragonkin handle spices?" Their expressions quickly went blank.

"Of course we can!" Vain said, but Hugo couldn't meet his eyes.

"There wasn't a lot of chances for trying new foods in the future," Hugo said quietly. "Our food was more focused on, uh, getting nutrition than taste."

"So, it's universal?" Zeus said, and he couldn't stop laughing.

“..I knew someone who loved spicy foods,” Felix said idly, and Willem smiled as he sat at the table.

“He couldn't get enough of them, could he?” he said cheerily. “He'd always have to warn us whenever he cooked.”

“Baking with him was a nightmare,” Felix agreed. “But we always had such a good time together, I almost didn't mind the spices.”

“That's right,” Zeus mused. “Willem told us that the three of you were really close.”

“We were the best of friends,” Felix said, but his eyes were distant, as though he was lost in his memories.

 

That night, we were staying in a nearby inn, but I couldn't get to sleep. I decided to go for a walk; perhaps the cool night air would make me feel better.

To my surprise, I wasn't the only one going out for a walk. As soon as I stepped out of the inn, I found Felix standing outside, gazing at the sky, not wearing his hood,and my mind went back to that first night that I had found him in the field, after he had been attacked.

I remember how my heart had raced, seeing him like that, and my heart was still racing at the sight of him. The moonlight streaming through his golden hair.. ' _He really is beautiful...'_

He turned to me. "What are you doing up this late?" Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice my nervousness.

"I couldn't get to sleep," I told him. "What about you?"

"I wanted to take advantage of this," he said quietly. "It's been a while since I've been able to be out on my own at night," he explained. "Usually someone's been guarding me, or there's been some kind of fight.."

"Do you mind if I walk with you?"

 

We were walking quietly, but there was a certain peace to being at his side. When we stopped, we were in the middle of a forest, and he took a seat on the ground. I sat next to him, and I was suddenly aware I had been holding his hand. But he made no effort to pull away, so neither did I.

"I used to love to walk through the gardens of the castle," he said suddenly. "The others used to call it my throne room. If one of the Dragonkin had a concern, they always said they could just come find me there. I thought they were the most beautiful place in all the world.."

"I saw it in my dream," I told him. "I remember thinking how beautiful it was back then."

"And more beautiful than it will ever be again," he said sadly. "Even when the castle was unsealed.. Even when Willem stood by my side, and we were working to the same goal, it was still nothing like how it used to be." He paused, then added, more to himself than to me, "Not that I would've realized it at the time."

My heart ached for him, and I felt I needed to speak up. "The castle may be gone," I said carefully, "but you still have Willem. And.. one day, you'll have Lacan to stand at your side again."

His expression was carefully blank, but there was something in his words I couldn't place. Almost like.. desperation. “I was told.. I was told that if Lacan were to wake up, the castle would fall apart, and the world would be destroyed. Is that what you desire?"

"I don't want that!" I said carefully. "It may seem impossible, but.. I want to believe that there's another way to bring him back. When all of this is over, I want to help you find that other way. Do you trust me?"

“Your friends would never go for it.”

“They know you- and they know Willem! I mean, they were happy to hear you two talk about him today in the restaurant. If we told them, I'm sure they'd be happy to help.”

“That's not who I'm worried about,” he said. “Hugo and Vain would never agree to it.”

Oh. Right. Even now, we were working with him, we had all journied together, but.. their trust was tenuous at best. If they couldn't trust Felix, I wonder what they would say?

“If.. If I could get them to agree to find a way to awaken Lacan _without bloodshed,”_ I asked tentatively, “what would you say?”

He turned and studied my expression, but I didn't look away. “..I thought that it would be impossible to find another way to awaken him- or.. perhaps, I just didn't want to look for one,” he said. “I thought this was what he wanted. But now I'm not so sure.” He met my eyes. “If you are willing to find another way, I'd.. like to try as well.”

My heart warmed as I heard his words. _'He agreed to work with me!'_ I thought. _'Maybe we can find peace after all.'_

“Will you tell me a bit more about him?” I asked, and he looked up at me curiously.

“What would you like to know?”

“Well..” I'd had a bunch of questions, but I couldn't think of them now. “Oh! You said you were a baker before. What was his job?”

“He was a blacksmith,” he told me. “Even after we became Reciters, he still crafted the finest jewels.” He raised his hand to his circlet. “He made this, did you know?”

“It's beautiful,” I gushed. Even when he'd worn his hood, I'd seen the beautiful gems glinting in his hair.

“He gave it to me as a gift, and I've worn it ever since.”

“That's sweet. It's like a way to remember him by.”

To my surprise, he started to laugh. “I never thought about it like that. But you know..” He smiled. “I think he'd like you.”

 

As we were walking back, I remembered something. "Oh! I got something for you! I meant to give it to you at the restaurant, but there was so much chaos going on.."

He winced a bit. "Don't remind me," he muttered sullenly. I pulled the object out from my bag, and his eyes went wide. "Is that-"

"I thought that since we didn't get any at the restaurant, I ordered some cake to go." He practically whisked the cake from my hands, saying a quick 'thank you'. I tried to hold back my laughter as I saw that his tail was wagging again.

"This is delicious! This tastes so much better than those abominable spicy pies back at the restaurant," he said. "Although.." He bowed his head, his tone somber despite his words. "This cake isn't as good as yours.."

I couldn't help but giggle at that. "You're exaggerating."

"I'm serious! I know cakes, I come from a family of bakers," he reminded me. "And the cake you made is the finest I've ever had."

"I'll have to make it again sometime then," I told him, and he smiled.

 

Once again, I found myself in the Castle in the Sky, but the hazy feeling of dreams did not allow me to panic. I wandered into the courtyard, wondering what I would see this time.

Instantly, I heard laughter, and I saw several dark blurs running through the courtyard. _'Are those Minidragons?!'_

But.. they didn't seem like the Minidragons I had seen before. They reminded me more of small dogs. And I saw them running up to a familiar figure standing in the center of the courtyard, yipping around him. Some of the Minidragons even flew onto his shoulders, pulling at his hair. And he was just laughing all the while.

_'I suppose that if there's anyone who could control the Minidragons,'_ I thought, _'it would be him..'_

"I knew I'd find you here; I've been looking for you everywhere." He spun around, seeing a young Dragonkin with bright red hair coming up to him.

"Ah! Harkin, was it? What did you need to speak to me about?" The two of them walked through the courtyard; a few of the Minidragons were still nestling in his hair, a few following behind him. I couldn't hear what the pair of them were talking about, but I heard others calling out greetings to them as they walked by.

 

"Hey, Liz, wake up!"

Zeus was knocking on my door. I wiped the sleep from my eyes as I answered. "What is it?"

"Queen Shezarade came through! She found where Dailon and her sons lived. Everyone's getting ready to go!" His smile dropped as he saw my expression. "Liz?"

' _I dreamed about Felix again. That means Sulien's going to come for him tonight. I need to find him now-'_

"What's the hold up?" My heart leaped as I saw the others, including Felix, walk up. Even Hugo and Vain were with them. I eased a bit, but that uneasy feeling wouldn't go away.

“I.. I had another vision," I said. "Felix, I saw you in the Castle in the Sky.." As I told them about my dream, Felix's eyes darkened.

Willem bowed his head. "In other words, Sulien likely already knows that we're on our way to his home. It sounds like we'll be walking right into a trap."

 

Randy: Who would've thought that both Felix and Willem would have such terrible reactions to spicy food? I hope that wasn't too painful!

Leon: ..

Randy: Uh, what about you? Can a unicorn handle spicy foods?

Leon: Not very well.. I usually like very plain foods. Marshmallows. Vanilla ice cream.

Randy: I understand! I love sweet foods myself! Cakes and pies sound delicious! But not if they're loaded with spices.. That just sounds painful.

Leon: I could go for some cake right now..

Randy: Let's go get some! Oh, but in the meantime.. Next time, Sulien!

 


	9. Sulien

Even with Felix walking at my side, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. I kept mentally replaying the argument that I'd heard only a few hours before. They'd yelled behind closed doors, but I'd heard enough of their argument just the same.

“We should get back to the village," Willem pleaded gently. "You know that we're only going to be walking into a trap."

"I don't care. We can't keep hiding from Sulien, not with the power that he already has. If we're right, we know where he's going to be."

"And what if he takes your magic? You are his target, and you are the strongest of us. If he gets a hold of your magic-"

"That's why I have to be the one to go. Without my magic, we won't stand a chance."

In the end, the group was split; we sent half of them back to the village with Hugo to guard him, but a few insisted on coming with us. Felix and Vain were the most insistent on coming with me.

I took a deep breath as we walked, focusing on who was ahead. 'This'll be our chance to stop Sulien. If we can get our hands on that sword, we could stop everything before it gets any worse.'

Vain turned to us as we were on our way. “Before we face Suilen, there's something you should know. Now that he has my power, you must never make eye contact with him. If you do, he'll be able to freeze you.”

Soon enough, we came to the place Shezarade had sent us, and my heart was in my throat. This place might've once been a small house, but it didn't look like it had been touched in ages.

As soon as we stepped into the house, he was waiting for us. He still wore his dark cloak, but I could clearly see him now. His hair was long and dark, his eyes a brilliant hazel. "I wondered when you would come here. Since you're here now, I assume that you've figured out who I am."

"Sulien," I said. "You're the eldest son of Dailon-"

"And the second coming of the Daydream Reciter," he said with a bitter smile. "At least, that's what the legends said. They said we would have the power of the Dragonkin Reciters, but I bet they never imagined it would be in this way, eh?”

“That power is not yours,” Felix growled.

“And yet I'm the one who wields it now,” Sulien said with a grin. “And soon, I'll wield yours as well.”

I felt sick to my stomach as I listened to him. After everything, after all the work we had done to protect our future, it could all be extinguished in the blink of an eye. If Sulien got his hands on Felix's magic, it would be game over.

_'This was a bad idea,'_ I thought with a sinking feeling. _'We shouldn't have come here, we should get out of here-'_

"We don't have time for this," Vain snarled from next to me, breaking me free of my reverie. "We need to get our hands on that sword. That may be our only chance to get our magic back." Vain was right. I was so caught up in his words that I had almost forgotten what we were here for.

"You're never going to get away with this! We'll stop you for sure!" I whipped out my wand, and Sulien smiled.

"I wish that this could've gone another way, but this is fine. Truth be told, I've been dying to give these new powers of mine a whirl."

"Saggita Lumen!"

The second I cast my spell, he quickly raised a barrier to block it once more. "These new abilities of mine are proving to be quite useful," he said with a smirk.

"I won't hold back!" Felix roared. He pulled off his hood, his horns glowing black. A flurry of black arrows erupted, but another barrier was raised.

"We've worked too hard for you to ruin everything!" Lucious cried. "Saggita Knox!"

"Ira Tolnis!"

I waved my own wand, chanting out spell after spell. But, when the dust faded, his barrier remained.

"Tsk." Felix turned back to us. "I'm only going to say this once, get back!" He clasped his hands to his chest, and a black fog oozed from his hands. Soon, the fog turned into a row of Minidragons. Where the rest of the attacks failed, the Minidragons quickly broke through the barrier, swarming around him.

"Get back!"

"Quickly, now's our chance!" Caesar, Lucious, and I all started casting spells.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vain moving forward, but Sulien didn't seem to notice him at all. Vain grabbed onto the sword-

"Looks like it's time to test out the prince's powers.."

My heart jumped as I heard a cry of pain, and I saw Vain lying on the ground. "He might not have magic anymore for me to steal, but a sword is still a sword, in the end. Such a shame that you had to fight against me," he said, but his gaze was directed at Vain, struggling to get to his feet. "With a power like yours, O prince of dragons, I believed you were my brother born again. Enough to take his place.”

"What are you talking about..?"

"You had no idea? Why do you think I've done all of this?” Sulien sneered. “There was a legend in my time: three Dragonkins, three half-Dragonkins, each wielding one of the elements- the one who holds the power of the six will have absolute power.”

And then, in the midst of this confusion, suddenly, Felix was in front of me. "Felix?" For just a split second, I froze-

"Liz!" I heard a familiar voice call out; I looked up to familiar green eyes.

_'That's not Felix!'_

"Get away from her!" The others were all poised to attack, but I felt Sulien raise his blade to my neck.

"My blade is meant to steal the magic of dragons, but I wonder what it could do to the magic of a goddess?" Felix raised his hand, but hesitation flashed through his eyes.

_'I have to do something,'_ I thought again and again, but I was frozen in in place. _'If I could access the Goddess Crystal-'_

"The power of the prince is strong, but I'd be stronger still with your power, Felix," Sulien said coolly. "With your power, I'll be able to accomplish what you couldn't." He raised the blade. "I'll make this easy for you. Come here and surrender your magic- or the Goddess dies."

_'If he takes Felix's power, it's all over!'_ With Willem and Felix's power together, there was no telling what he could do. He could unseal the castle once more, and we'd be powerless.

"Felix, don't listen to him!” I pleaded. “Please, I'll be fine-"

He shook his head and walked forward. "Don't hurt her," he commanded. He walked up, and he was suddenly right before me. His eyes met mine-

And he suddenly shoved me out of the way. "Felix?!"

"I can't let you get hurt!"

I looked up just in time- to see Sulien's sword slash his back.

_'No- NO!'_

As I let out a cry, all the world went still. When I looked, I noticed that everyone except me was frozen. My mind was racing, but I knew that we had to get out of here. How long would this last?

My heart ached as I saw Felix, fallen to his knees, and one thought ran through my mind. _'I need to get him out of here.'_ No matter what else happened, no matter if his magic was lost, he couldn't stay here.

I ran to Vain, tapping his shoulder and unfreezing him. "Vain, are you all right?"

I-I think so." He slowly got to his feet. He held onto his side, but he stood tall. I saw the confusion in his expression, but there was no time for that. I didn't know how long this power was going to hold- or what Sulien would do when time unfroze.

"We need to get out of here. Can you help me carry Felix?"

Sulien had won, and there was no telling what would happen now. All I knew is we had to get away.

 

That night, we decided to head back to the village to regroup. I knew that there was a lot we'd have to explain to the others, but, truth be told, my mind was still racing, going over the events.

' _It's all my fault,_ ' I kept thinking. ' _If I hadn't gotten distracted, we could have defeated him; Felix wouldn't have lost his magic._ ' I had known all along he was a shapeshifter, of course he would use it against me.

But one question still remained: ' _why did he appear to me as Felix?_ '. Even when we had first fought him, he had appeared to me as Felix. Out of all the people who fought by my side, why would he appear as Felix?

But.. would his disguise have been as affected if he had appeared as someone else? I'd fought shadows who looked like my friends before, but none of them had affected me like this. What was it about him that made me so flustered?

He had been our enemy, but I couldn't stop worrying about him. I wanted to see him happy again; I enjoyed being by his side. And I found my heart racing whenever I was by his side-

_'Oh.'_ The realization washed over me, crystal clear. _'I'm.. I'm falling for him.'_

 

My heart leapt into my throat as Felix stirred. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head. "Ugh, I feel like I just got hit in the head-"

I couldn't stop myself; without thinking, I threw my arms around him. "Thank goodness you're awake! I was so worried!" The next instant, as I saw his face go red, I realized what I had done. I quickly pulled away. "Oh, uh.."

"What happened?" he asked carefully. How did I tell him what had happened that night? How did I tell him that his magic was gone?

How did I tell him that he had lost his magic because of me?

I heard a knocking on the door. "Liz, are you there? I came as soon as I heard!" I relaxed as I heard Alfonse's voice.

"We're in here." Alfonse stepped into the room, and I turned back to Felix. "I asked Alfonse to check up on you; you took a nasty blow in the fight back there."

"I don't really remember, but okay.."

As I passed by him, Alfonse looked over me. "You should get some rest yourself, Liz. It's been a long day." I felt weariness wash over me at his words. I quickly left the room to go rest.

But even as I tried to fall asleep, I could still hear Felix's cries.

 

Hisoka: That's quite a scary situation! To think that Sulien has all that power- I'm just glad that they were able to make it out of there safely!

Willem: Except now Felix has lost his magic.. I wish that they had listened to me and avoided the fight.

Hisoka: That's true. With all of his power, Sulien seems impossible to fight. He's going to be even more powerful now that he has Felix's magic.

Willem: I really don't like the sound of this. I hope everyone's going to be all right..

Hisoka: Me too. But still.. To think that Felix would lose his magic cause Liz was in danger. He really has changed, hasn't he?

Willem: Yeah, I think so too.

Hisoka: Next time, Falling.

 


	10. Falling

I was still reeling even after the doctor told me the news. Even after everything we'd done to fight Sulien, my magic was gone.

_'Even with all my powers, I was unable to stop him. Willem was right,'_ I thought. _'It was idiotic of me to go rushing off into battle like that.'_

I felt restless just sitting there, so I decided to go for a walk. I stepped out of the small room, pulling up my hood again; I saw the others were talking in the living room. I could feel their judging eyes on me; I wondered what they were thinking. "I'll be back in a little bit," I said. "I'm just going for a walk."

It's not like I needed to tell them that though, I thought as I left. My magic was gone, and there was nothing that I could do for them now. But.. it still felt wrong to leave them.

"Mind if I go with you?" A young man fell in step beside me; I recognized him at once, the Prince of the Labyrinth. Lucious. I shook my head. We walked in silence for a while before he spoke up again. "I'm sorry about what happened to your magic. What are you planning to do now?"

"What can I do?" I asked. "I have no magic left. With the magic he has now, Sulien could burn the world to cinders."

"Isn't that what you wanted? Just a few weeks ago, you wanted nothing more to make your castle fall from the sky, and it seems like Sulien is planning to do exactly that. I thought you'd be happy at least."

"I.." He was right. Staying in my castle, I had thought only of revenge, only of what the humans had done to me. If the world burned, I would have been there laughing just to get back at them. But.. something had changed in these past few weeks. Even though they were humans, they had fought at my side. We had laughed together too.

And Liz.. She had listened to me, cried for me. It was nice to be with her, no matter what we were doing. And even though I didn't understand that, I didn't understand her.. I couldn't just let all that go. Why did I keep coming back to her?

The answer hit me all at once. ' _Oh.'_ But even still.. there was nothing I could do to help her.

"I don't want that anymore," was all I could say. "But what can I do? All of the magic of the Dragonkin is in his hands, and I am helpless. I can't help her anymore.”

"You just have to not give up. I.. I know how difficult that can be. There was a time, after they told me that Claudia was gone, that I believed all was lost. If I didn't have my friends at my side, I don't know what I would've done. I probably would still be stuck in that Labyrinth. And so would you." I had to admit, he was right. "But we didn't give up, and I got out of there. And now.. Liz wants to stand with you. And I don't like it, but she's usually a good judge of someone's heart. So we'll stand with you too. So you better not give up, okay?"

"..All right." With that, the young prince left me in peace, but I had a lot of thinking to do.

 

Once I woke up, the first order of business was explaining stuff to the others. And some of it was.. easier to explain than others.

"There's still something I'm wondering though," Zeus mused. "Which one of you represents which element?”

"Well, there's no doubt that Sulien is the one who represents Daydream," Willem said. "Lacan is the only one who I knew with that strong a shapeshifting ability. There is.. quite a resemblance between them as well."

"Vain's certainly powerful enough to represent Nightmare..”

"Not to mention grumpy enough," Hiro added.

"Do you have a death wish?" Vain growled.

"Then that would mean that Hugo represents Twilight?"

"Do we have to discuss this?" Hugo asked, burying his face in his hands.

As we started to talk over what we were going to do next, I realized something. "Wait, where did Felix go?"

"Oh, he went out for a walk," Lucious said, and my heart sank.

_'Now that his magic's gone, he doesn't have a reason to stay,'_ I realized. _'He's probably gone back to wherever he was hiding before.'_ My heart ached as I thought about that. After everything.. I didn't want to see him leave. Not when I was just falling for him.

 

"There's still Hugo's prophecy to consider," I pointed out, fishing for the paper. No matter how many times I read the words, a chill still swept down my spine. "Three beings eternal time tore apart again and again. By war, by death- finally, by choice. The Dragon King, the One Who Slumbers, the One Who Waits. Night by night, when the blood of Dragons and humans come together, the powerful become powerless- and the powerful become one. Dreams become reality, the Dragon King will fall- and the Reciters will be born again."

"Well, now we know the first part," Hugo mused. "The Reciters being torn apart by the ancient war, the death of Sulien's brothers.."

"And the third time is yet to come, perhaps," Vain replied.

"If Felix is the Dragon King, that would explain why Sulien called Vain the prince," I mused. "The blood of Dragons and humans is referring to the three of you being half-Dragonkin."

"The powerful become powerless," Willem said with a sigh. "That would refer to our magic being stolen. And 'powerful become one'.. I'm guessing that's Sulien's goal. For all of our magic to end up in his hands."

Hugo shuddered. "He's already most of the way there."

Vain stepped forward protectively. "That's not going to happen. We won't let him take Hugo's magic." We all nodded in agreement. "We'll stop him, no matter the cost."

But my gaze turned to the last line. "I still don't understand what this means." My mind kept running through the one piece. _'The Dragon King falls.'_ If Felix was the king, what was going to happen to him?

 

“You seem to be deep in thought.” I looked up as Hugo sat next to me. "Is something troubling you?"

“ wavered for a minute, but I decided to tell him the truth. "I'm worried about Felix," I admitted. "Now that his magic's gone, I wonder if he's going to end up coming back."

"Do you want him to come back?"

"..I do," I said at last. "I know that he is our enemy, but he doesn't feel like one anymore. And I think-" the words caught in my throat, "I think I might be falling for him."

"I see." Hugo wore his usual unreadable expression, but that made me even more nervous.

“Aren't you going to tell me that I'm being ridiculous? That I can't possibly fall in love with him? That he's our enemy?"

"Liz.." Hugo sighed. "I have seen Felix in a hundred timelines; I've faced him a thousand times. But I've never seen him like this."

"Really?"

“He's different now. I never thought I'd see Felix laughing alongside us- or fighting alongside us. And I think it's because of you."

I thought back to being at Sulien's house, at what he did for me. If it had just been him, he might have been able to get out of the way. But.. "He gave up his magic to protect me."

"That is.. certainly different," he said, his eyes wide. "Not to mention.." He stopped himself, and I tilted my head.

"What?"

"He protected Vain too," he said simply. "I haven't forgotten that." I wondered how long he had been thinking about that..

"Do you think we could be allies after all?"

"Who knows? But.. I will say, these changes seem to have to do with you. If you have feelings for him, I'm not entirely sure they're not returned."

My heart was still racing as Hugo walked away. Could he be right? If Felix returned.. did he have feelings for me too?

 

I looked up as the door opened. "Sorry I'm late." I looked up, and my heart raced as I saw him. When Felix walked in, all eyes were on him.

"I'm sorry, sir," Alfonse said as he walked up to the man, "I think you have the wrong address-" His jaw dropped as he looked over him. "Wait, Felix?"

It was certainly Felix who walked in, but he looked different. Instead of his usual white robes, he was dressed in a simple green outfit; most surprisingly, his hair and horns were uncovered.

"I.. I think that's the first time I've seen you without your hood," Lucious said, and the others murmured in agreement. Even Hugo and Vain looked surprised.

"I didn't even know you had horns!" Zeus said, and Felix scowled.

"I'm a Dragonkin, of course I have horns!"

"Why the sudden change?" I asked. He glanced up at me and then looked away.

"I.. I thought a change would be good. Besides, I couldn't keep wearing my old robes; Sulien's blade tore them up." He took a seat. "So, what did I miss?"

The others looked surprised, but Vain calmly explained, "Now that Sulien has taken your magic, it won't be long before he comes for Hugo's. As we did with you, we agreed to take turns staying with him, while we search for more information.."

Felix listened intently. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between them. _'It's almost like he's one of us now.'_

 

That night, as we tried to figure out what to do, Felix stayed with me again. There wasn't even a question about it, and I couldn't help but smile as we sat together.

I found myself glancing over at him again and again; I wondered if he noticed? My mind kept going back to what Hugo had said earlier. _'I'm not entirely sure they're not returned.'_

I wanted to speak up, I wanted to take this chance. “Felix, I was wondering..” But the words caught in my throat as he looked at me. But I raised my chin. “Is it true what you said about Dragonkin being good dancers?”

He got to his feet, offering his hand. “Would you like to find out?”

My heart was hammering in my chest, but he just kept smiling. I wondered if he could hear it. “N-now? There's no music.”

“Does it matter?”

I shook my head and took his hand. His movements were easy, leading me around the house with ease, twirling across the floor. I was suddenly aware of my heart pounding, but, when I looked up at his face, he seemed serene. As we danced, he started humming a lovely tune, and my heart soared, just listening to his voice. It was like he was singing just for me..

_'It's funny how things have changed now that I've realized that I'm in love with him,'_ I thought. Had I been this nervous the last time I had heard his voice like this?

"You know, that first night.." I looked up at his voice. "That first night that you found me, you took me by surprise."

"What did I do?"

"You cried," he said, and I shyly avoided his eyes. It had been a bit embarrassing for me to cry in front of him. But he said, "I thought, 'who would cry for a Dragonkin?'. Even when I left that night, I couldn't get you off my mind. Truth be told, that's why I sought you out the next day. But you've remained a mystery to me ever since.."

"A mystery?" I laughed. "I think I'm a pretty open book."

"You're easier to read now, but I didn't understand then. There's a lot I didn't understand then. I found myself coming back to you, to enjoy being at your side. I didn't understand what we have, but.. I don't want to lose this. I don't want to lose you, I want to stay by your side. But I think I've figured it out now.”

"I.." I had to say something. I didn't know what to say, but I had to say something. "When I woke up and saw that you were gone, I was afraid that you had grown tired of us." It felt so silly to say now. "I was worried you wouldn't come back."

He just smiled. "I'm not going anywhere."

“So what did you figure out?” I asked.

“I think.. I think I'm falling for you,” he said.

He was falling for me? I didn't know what to say. I knew there was a possibility, but-

“Liz?” he asked. “You've gone awfully quiet..”

Oh, crap! “No, no, no! You just caught me by surprise!” I said. “You see, I have feelings for you too-” _did I really just say that out loud?-_ “so I just, uh-”

“T-that's wonderful to hear,” he said with a smile. My heart was racing as he pulled me closer.

That night, we stayed up talking way into the night, and I ended up falling asleep on his shoulder.

 

When I dreamed, this time I was standing outside a grand castle. _'Where is this place? I've never been here before..'_

When I walked inside, I saw a young man standing in the grand hall. He was years younger than I'd ever seen, but there was no doubt it was Felix. He looked like he was waiting for someone.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps, and another young man burst into the room. “I'm here! I'm here! I hope I'm not late!”

“You're.. you're the blacksmith's son, aren't you?” Felix said, and the man nodded with a cheerful smile. “Oh, I'm sorry, it seems I've forgotten your name..”

“Lacan Malaran, at your service.”

“Felix Baker. It's nice to meet you!”

 

Sigurd: So they confessed their feelings for each other at last.

Alfonse: It was cute to see her get all flustered over crushing on him.

Sigurd: That dream worries me though..

Alfonse: Well, sometimes a dream is just a dream! Right? Just because she's had these dreams before, doesn't mean that anything bad is going to happen with this one, right?

Sigurd: Yeah, I'm sure you're right.

Alfonse: We'll keep an eye on them just in case..

Sigurd: Next time, 'The Last Attack'.

 

 


	11. The Last Attack

Even as I explained my dreams to the others, I was still unsure. "I know this seems insignificant, but this felt like my other dreams. I'm just not sure what this could mean."

“Are you sure that this wasn't just a dream?" Hugo asked me.

"That was a memory," Willem said. "There's no way you could've known Lacan's last name otherwise."

Felix was quiet for a long moment, but he finally spoke up, "I.. I think I have an idea of what's going on." All eyes turned to him. "I know you may not trust this coming from me, but- I think that he's coming after Lacan."

"Lacan?!"

"That can't be possible," Vain said, "the Castle was sealed away, we saw it-"

"With all the power that he has now, it may just be enough to break the seal again."

My heart sank. _'No, no, no-'_ We had worked so hard to stop that dreaded future, and it could all be taken from us in the blink of an eye.

Vain and Hugo exchanged a look, and a flicker of doubt turned to certainty. "We'll need to head to the Castle in the Sky."

"You trust me?" Felix asked. Was that why he kept his silence?

"If you were trying to trick us, I doubt you would've come this far," Hugo said. Felix breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'll contact Elias and see if we can get his ship," Alfonse said, hurrying out the door.

My heart was in my throat as we waited for the ship to come. _'How are we going to face Sulien?'_ I thought. I'd seen his power for myself, and he'd be even stronger now that he had Felix's power. _'We're walking into the heart of the lion's den.'_ My thoughts kept going to Felix, standing at my side. I knew better than anyone how foolish it was to try to stop someone, but.. _'Is he going to be all right going with us?'_

He turned to me, tilting his head. "Are you all right?"

"I.. I'm not sure you should go with us," I said at last. But all I could think about was that moment that Suilen's sword had cut him, him falling before me- The moment that I thought I'd lost him. "It would be safer if you stay back."

“What?! You can't ask me to just stay here-"

"Felix, he has your magic!" I protested. "I don't want you to get hurt!"

"I.. Won't you need me to help you navigate the Castle?" he asked. That was true, but-

"Willem can navigate it for us!"

"Like heck he's going! He doesn't-" He suddenly caught himself, turning away in frustration. He sighed. "..I know there's not much that I can do, but I can't just stay back and do nothing. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt."

I knew that feeling of being helpless. How many times had my friends tried to get me to stay behind when they were worried about me, and I had insisted. I didn't want to be helpless then either. "..Fine," I said at last. "Just try to stay out of danger, all right?" He squeezed my hand.

 

When we faced Sulien before, we had sent half of our friends home. This time, we didn't have that luxury. Despite all the arguments, everyone was coming with us, even Vain and Willem. _'If we're going to face Sulien, we're going to need all the power we can get.'_

No matter how many times we visited the Castle in the Sky, it never failed to make my stomach churn. _'I just hope that we don't fall this time..'_

“Hey, Felix,” Zeus said suddenly, “there's something that I've been wondering.” Felix tilted his head. “You said that the three of you were best friends. How did you three meet?”

Surprise flickered across his face. “Well.. I knew Lacan's family before I knew him. We lived in the same village,” he said, and he started to ease as he talked. “But it wasn't until we were called to the castle that we actually met.”

“Called to the castle?”

“That's when we were told that we were the Reciters,” Felix said. “We were summoned to the castle, and they told us that we were the destined three. It was quite the shock at the time. A baker and a blacksmith were the heirs of Daylight and Nightmare. Though..” he glanced over at Willem, “Probably not so much a surprise for this one.”

“I suspect everyone knew that a Reciter would come from the Rembrandt family,” Willem admitted sheepishly.

“Does that mean that you were a nobleman?”

“Pretty close to it.”

“A baker, a blacksmith, and a nobleman.. You can only imagine the adventures we got up to,” Felix said with a smile.

 

Felix froze as we landed in the Castle courtyard. "Was it.. always like this?" he asked. I looked on in confusion, but he shook his head. "There's no time for that. Follow me."

Each hallway looked the same as we wove through the halls, but Felix moved with a certain sureness. He stopped before a door, his breath catching. "I've been here so many times," he mumbled. "Is Sulien in there?"

When we opened the door, the room was empty- except a single coffin in the center of the room. Felix knelt before the coffin, looking over the side. He sighed. "Lacan's seal is still intact. It appears that Suilen has not arrived here yet."

"We're ahead of him then." I sighed. Every time before, he had been there.

Vain took charge. "We should keep an eye out for him; we should have guards standing outside." We quickly agreed, sending half of our group to wait outside.

It had been nerve-wracking thinking about the battle, but my nerves were on fire just.. waiting. I cautiously took a seat next to Felix.

After a moment, I felt something brush against my hand. I looked down to see Felix taking my hand, but his expression was cool and blank. I felt better, knowing that he was at my side.

"There's something that I wanted to ask you." Felix looked up as Hugo approached us. My heart caught in my throat as I watched the two of them.

"What is it?"

“Are you certain about this?" he asked. "In standing with us, you are defending Lacan's seal. This might be the closest you can come to seeing him again. Will you stand with us even still?"

I wanted to speak up, say anything, but I could hardly deny his words. Felix was silent for what felt like an eternity- and then he smiled. "If there is another way, we'll find it," he said at last. "I have something I can't afford to lose now."

Hugo smiled. "I'm glad to hear it," he said, going back to join the others.

And suddenly I heard a piercing shriek. I bolted to my feet, drawing out my wand. 'Here he comes!'

Sulien strolled into the room, smiling. "Ah, there you are. Somehow, I had a feeling you all would be waiting for me. Good to see you didn't disappoint."

Our friends came into the chambers, and my heart broke as I saw them limping in. "I'm sorry," Willem said, "we couldn't stop him."

“We know what you came here for," Felix growled. "You won't lay a hand on him!"

"And who's going to stop me? A Dragonkin without any magic- or perhaps any of your new human pals? Well, at least it would give me a chance to test out these new powers." He clasped his hands to his chest, and a dark fog oozed out of them. In a few seconds, we were faced with a small row of Mini-Dragons.

_'Oh no!'_ I braced myself as the Minidragons rushed towards us, raising my wand.

"Stop!" Felix snapped. All at once, the Minidragons came to a screeching halt, looking up at Felix expectantly. Sulien stared in shock.

"How?"

"Do not forget who's power you're using. I've been training Minidragons since I was small!” Felix said, then he turned, commanding to the Minidragons, "Attack him!"

Sulien quickly regained himself, blocking himself with a barrier. "Hmm. That was just one of my powers." The others all raised their wands, and my heart soared.

"Remember, we have to get our hands on that sword, no matter the cost!" Hugo said; a branch-like magic circle appeared in the air.

_'Nobody's giving up, so I can't give up either!'_

Suddenly, I felt a warm power rushing through me, a power that I knew well. I felt Felix's gaze fall on me.

"That is.." I nodded.

"The power of the Goddess Crystal!" Felix smiled, taking my hand. We faced Sulien with a new determination.

Sulien's eyes widened. "I heard the legend of the Goddess of Time, but I am steps away from ultimate power. Let's see who's stronger." He waved his hand, and a flurry of black arrows came swarming at us.

I quickly touched the magic circle. _'Let's hope this works!'_ In a moment, the arrows froze midair.

I narrowly ducked out of the way as I heard my friends casting spells behind me, trying anything, but Sulien kept up his barrier.

_'If we can move a little faster,'_ I thought, _'perhaps we could get past the barrier.'_ I remembered before, I had sped up Lucious and Caesar's time. Maybe I could do it on a larger scale?

Dodging another blast of arrows, I ran up to Zeus, touching his shoulder. In a moment, he was wrapped in light. "Speed up his time!" I didn't have time to see if it worked; I quickly darted up to Hiro, speeding up his time as well.

"I see the Goddess of Time has awakened. I came here for my counterpart, but perhaps another's power would make this easier.” Sulien moved in the blink of an eye, raising his blade-

"Watch out!" Just before his blade came down, Felix jumped in front, shielding Hugo from the attack. Hugo froze, wide-eyed.

"Felix!"

"Don't worry about me," he said, stumbling to the side. He tried to smile, but I saw pain in his eyes. "He already stole my magic, there's not much he can do to me."

I knelt by his side, pressing my hands to his side. _'Turn back his time.'_ In an instant, his wound had healed, and his eyes widened.

"Huh. Who knew the Dragon King would fall to a mortal blade," Sulien sneered.

"Get away from him!" A blast of light hit Sulien, knocking him back. I looked up to see Zeus had moved behind him, casting his spell.

_'Way to go, Zeus!'_

Sulien smiled. "You're going to have to do better than that if you're going up against me," he said. This time, he was better prepared; no matter what spell we threw at him, he threw up a barrier.

"Goddess," Hugo said in a low voice, "I think I can get close enough to him."

I shook my head. "It's too dangerous," I whispered back. "You already almost lost your magic once. If he gets his hands on your magic-" I didn't want to think about how powerful he could be.

"I'm the only one who can get close enough to him," he answered.

"I can-" Felix and Hugo both shook their heads.

"Help the others," Hugo said. "See if you can speed up their time as well." I nodded.

The others could move fast, but they couldn't teleport as fast as Hugo could. "..I'm trusting you, Hugo." He turned, casting a spell.

_'Just waiting for the right moment.'_ I ran up to Caesar, tapping him on the shoulder, and I soon did the same with Lucious and then with Alfonse. Although I could feel a drain on my magic, I gritted my teeth. _'I can't give up now!'_ Soon, I had sped up the time of all of our friends, and they were moving all over the place, dodging Sulien's attacks and casting their own.

I could tell that Sulien was growing wearier, breaking out in sweat. "We just have to keep this up for a bit longer!"

His gaze fell on me. "I must say, your power is impressive, Goddess. I may not be able to take that magic for myself, but I'm sure I have enough to take you out." He raised his hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hugo appear behind him.

_'All I have to do,'_ I thought desperately, _'is keep his attention on me.'_

I raised my wand, summoning all the magic that I could. "Lumen!"

He raised his hand, but, at the last second, he suddenly turned- and slashed out at Hugo!

"Hugo!" Vain rushed forward, catching Hugo as he fell.

"I'm sorry.."

"Now I have the power of two time travelers." Sulien smiled at us. "I wonder if this is power enough to stop the Goddess of Time." He turned and started walking towards the coffin once more.

_'No, no, no-'_

"Lumen!" This time, his barrier was even stronger, and his focus turned to me.

"I was going to leave you be, since I have more.. pressing matters to attend to, but perhaps this will give me a chance to use this new powers of mine."

I struggled to get to my feet, but I didn't have any energy left. My heart raced as he pulled open the coffin lid-

_'I can't.. let things end here!'_ Before I got fully to my feet, Sulien waved his hand, and I was blown back by a wave of dark magic.

"Liz!" Strong arms caught me, and I looked up into green, green eyes.

"Felix, I.."

That was the last thing I knew before it all went to darkness.

 

I awoke in the darkness. Every muscle in my body ached as I got to my feet, and, when I looked around, I was all alone.

_'Nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see..'_

I felt a chill run down my spine as I started walking, shivering. It felt like anything could jump out at me in the dark. I knew I needed to find my friends, but I'd be lying if I said my heart wasn't racing. _'Please don't let there be ghosts, please don't let there be ghosts-'_

"Darkness, endless darkness," I heard a voice say. "Once again, I am all alone in the darkness. No matter what I do, I am always alone in the darkness.."

I knew that voice. "Felix!" I rushed to the sound of the voice, all my fear melting away as I ran towards him. It felt like an eternity, running in the darkness, but I knew he was there-

At last I saw him, kneeling in the dark, burying his face in his hands. "Helpless," he muttered, "I am helpless.. Helpless to save Lacan, helpless to save my people, helpless to escape this darkness.."

My heart ached as I watched him; I couldn't imagine the pain that he must have been feeling. _'I can't watch this-'_

"Felix!" I cried, running up to him. Without thinking, I threw my arms around him, and he looked up, wide-eyed, as though the spell had been broken.

"Liz-" he cried breathlessly, and I pulled him close. "I thought I'd never see you again-"

"I found you," I said gently, "I found you. I'm here." He squeezed my hand.

"I was.. I was all alone," he said. "I thought I was trapped." I pulled him close, running my hand through his hair.

"I'm here." No matter what else had happened, Felix was by my side, and I could breathe a little easier.

Slowly, I helped him to his feet, and we looked around. "Where are we?"

"With all of the power Sulien has now," I said shivering, "it appears he sent us here. But.. I wonder if we'll be able to find the others in here." For all I know, we could have been scattered through the world with his power. I glanced over at Felix, noticing he was still shivering. Of course he would be frightened in this darkness.. "Are you going to be all right?"

He straightened up a bit, nodding, squeezing my hand. "I think I can handle it as long as you're here," he said, then quickly added, "We should hurry though."

We walked together through the darkness, and I heard him quietly humming beside me. Despite the darkness, I felt like I could do anything if he was by my side.

 

We had been walking for what felt like an eternity when I was suddenly assaulted by bright light. I shielded my eyes- and when the light faded, I found that I was standing in the harbor.

_'I guess there are worse places that Sulien could've sent us,'_ I thought.

"Where are we?" Felix asked.

"This is Gedonelune Harbor," I said. Glancing around, I could see people bustling by, and market stalls lining everywhere. "And judging from the activity, it's market da- Huh?" I felt drops of rain fall on me. That was weird, it never rained in Gedonelune.

As I looked up, my blood ran cold as I saw two figures standing under an umbrella ahead of us. 'That's Lucious- and me!'

I couldn't hear the words they spoke, but I knew what they were saying.

And time seemed to stop as a figure stepped out of the shadows, a pale figure whose eyes shown like jewels.

"What?" Felix said. "That's.. me.”

 

Caesar: Sulien now has Hugo's power.. This isn't going to be pretty.

Alfonse: He's going to be unstoppable with all that power.

Caesar: If even you're worried, this can't be good.

Alfonse: I get worried sometimes! But.. we've gotta keep our heads up, right? Surely, there's got to be a way to defeat him.

Caesar: But how?

Alfonse: I don't know! But we'll do it the same way we do everything! Together!

Caesar: Right. Of course. But.. where are we, anyway?

Alfonse: Hopefully they'll find us next..

Caesar: Next time, 'Dreams Become Reality'!

 


	12. Dreams Become Reality

“Liz?"

I searched for anything, anything, I could say to pretend that this wretched vision wasn't playing out before us, that things were going to turn out all right. That things would always turn out all right.

"Felix-" I cried out, "Felix, don't look-"

But he couldn't tear his eyes off of the scene. Not when black fog filled the air- not when the blackness wrapped around me, until the darkness that was all that was left.

"Liz!" He ran forward, grasping at the air, but his hands went through the vision. He collapsed to his knees as everything went to black. "That wasn't.. What is this wretched vision?"

It would have been easy to lie, to tell him that this was just a cruel trick. But before I could get the words out, another vision played before our eyes. This time, Lucious and I were walking alongside the water, planning the future, when Felix appeared, casting spells of dark magic. I could only watch as the blackness filled everything.

Just as quick, the vision was replaced, and I saw the two of us getting off a ferris wheel, chatting amicably. And just as before, Felix appeared before us, chanting spells of dark magic.

"Stop-" Felix cried. "Stop!" But the vision continued on with his path, unable to hear his cries.

Even though I was just watching, I flinched; I could remember all too clear the pain in my dream as the black liquid surrounded me, filling up my lungs. "Ugh.."

Felix's gaze fell on me; I guess the worry must've shown on my face, because he pulled me close. "Liz, are you all right?"

"I.. I've seen these visions before." I couldn't meet his eyes as I told him. "When we were trying to free Lucious from the Labyrinth, Hugo showed me and Lucious these visions."

"Then these visions are.." He suddenly pulled away, and I felt a lump in my throat.

"Other futures," I said quietly. "Other timelines."

The other visions played before our eyes. I saw myself standing at the beach, talking of what we dreamed would be, when Felix appeared. I saw all of our friends standing at our side, desperate to stop him, only for it all to disappear into the blackness. And, finally, I saw myself standing before Gedonelune Castle as Felix marched with his army. I saw the castle in flames, I saw myself running desperately until everything was consumed in the flames.

"You're saying.. this is who I become?" Felix asked. "In every timeline, I.. I killed you?"

"I.." Hugo had shown me only a fraction of the many timelines that he had lived through, and it was impossible to know how each and every one of them played out. But the possibility that so many of them played out just like this-

"All I've done has been for my people," he said. "Everything I've done has been to free them, to take back what was stolen from us. Everything I've done- are you saying it always leads here?"

"No!" When I looked at Felix, at my Felix, I didn't see the man I had feared in my dreams. "Maybe this was another timeline, maybe this was our fate in a thousand timelines. But this isn't the Felix that I know. The Felix who protected us, who fought by our side- the one who danced with me, who shielded me- do you think that's the same Felix who'd do that?"

He looked up at me with uncertainty. "But what can I do? Even if.. I want to change the future, I can't do anything. Sulien has my magic, and Willem's- and with all that power, he probably already has Lacan's. What can we do?"

"Are you just going to give up now?!" I asked. "When I found you, you had no idea what to do, but you told me you refused to just roll over and let your people fade away! If we give up now, it's all over." He looked up at me. "All of us have worked too hard to give us a peaceful future- I don't want to fade away either!"

And I saw doubt turn to resolve in his eyes. "You're right. I.. I was lost in the darkness for thousands of years, searching for a way to save my people, and I made it on the other side. I found the people I want to protect. I won't let everyone disappear again!" My heart soared as I heard the new confidence in his voice.

_'As long as we're together,'_ I thought, _'we can do anything!'_

And I felt a warm power rushing through me again, one that was so familiar to me. I took Felix's hand.

And a new vision appeared before me. I saw three figures standing in a grand hall, talking excitedly. And I heard Felix's voice above the others. "Oh, you should see the kind of things they can create! Innovations that we could only dream of! If we could work together, nothing would stand in our way."

"What do you suggest?"

"A gift, as a symbol of our friendship," Felix said. "We'll give them some of our own magic. A little bit from each of us; I'm sure we can get the others in on it too. A little bit of help from everyone, can you imagine?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Willem said; I heard Lacan cheerfully throw in his agreement.

"That's right, I remember this," Felix said fondly. "The Dragonkin came together to create something, sharing their own powers." As the vision faded, Felix turned to me, a sparkle in his eyes. "Sulien said that the one who has the combined power of the Dragonkin will have ultimate power. But that's not just him. We brought our powers together long ago, and it created the Goddess Crystal, the power strong enough to seal us away, power enough to save this timeline. The power that you carry. How could I have forgotten that?"

He turned to face the darkness. "And a power freely given," he said, "is a thousand times stronger than any one that was stolen. Than anything that you can throw at us!"

"Is that so?" A chill ran down my spine as I heard the voice, and Sulien stepped out of the darkness. "You truly believe that that mere human can defeat me now? It's not like she could defeat me back there, and that was without the power I carry now. I have the power to make the sky fall- just as you failed to do."

"I won't give up!" I told him. "Everyone's hopes are riding on us, we won't let you send this world back into the darkness!" Sulien waved his hand, and the darkness grew thicker around us- until I could barely see it. I whipped out my wand. "Lumen!"

"Take this!" I just missed the barrage of black arrows heading our way, freezing them in the air. Spell after spell, I chanted into the darkness, no matter how dark it grew around me. I knew that I had the hopes of the Dragonkin on my side.

But, soon, despite how I tried to fight it, the weariness was growing, but I could see that Sulien was growing weary too. For every barrier he raised, every arrow he sent my way, I saw him slow down just a hair, his barriers growing weaker and weaker.

_'I just need to push a bit harder!'_ I thought, putting every ounce of strength into my attack.

"Lumen!" I crumpled to my knees with the final attack. At the same time, Sulien waved his hand, and a huge ball of darkness was heading my way.

Every muscle in my body was aching, but- I couldn't move. 'Is this it?'

"Liz!" It was as though everything came to a screeching halt as I heard his cry- as Felix leapt in front of me, his body engulfed in the darkness.

"Felix!" I screamed-

And then there was a bright flash of light, so bright that I couldn't keep my eyes open.

 

"Come back to me, come back to me.."

The world was spinning when I opened my eyes, but the first thing I saw was green, green eyes. "Felix?"

"I'm so glad you're all right," he said, smiling as he helped me to my feet.

"Uh.." I heard another groan from across the room. I looked up to see the others slowly getting to their feet, including Sulien. And his blade lay on the floor-

His gaze fell on mine, and I knew we both had the same thought: 'get that sword'. We both ran forward at the same moment. Our hands reached for the blade at the same moment-

“Gotcha!” Just before his hand closed over the belt, Felix grabbed Sulien by the arm, pulling him back- and I grabbed the sword first!

As I lifted the blade in the air, I felt a surge of power rushing through me, not unlike that of the powers of the Goddess, a rush of different powers all mixing together into one. I felt Hugo and Vain's magic, Willem's, Felix's- and a few in there that I didn't recognize.

"Give that back!" Sulien roared, stomping his foot, like a child throwing a tantrum. He raised his hand, and I braced myself for whatever he could try.

But nothing happened.

"What? No Minidragons?" Felix sneered. "No throwing up barriers, no reversing time?"

"I.." His gaze fell, and all of the pieces fell into place.

I focused on the sword in my hands. _'He can't do anything without this,'_ I thought. _'If I can destroy this, then everyone's magic will be returned to them.'_ Now I just had to figure out how to destroy the sword.

"Keep ahold of him," I said. I set down the blade on the ground, taking out my wand again. With a single spell, the blade was soon engulfed in flames.

"Stop! Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Sulien howled, but it was all too late for him. The blade soon disappeared beneath the flames. When the flames disappeared, there was nothing left but ash. And light rose from the ashes, going to Willem, to Vain, to Felix, to Hugo, and a final stream of magic that lingered for a moment- before going to me.

“Oh!" I heard Willem cry out first. "My magic- I can feel it returning to me!"

In a moment, Vain nodded. "I can feel it too."

Felix and Hugo both raised their hands, black lightning crackling in their hands and then disappearing just as quick. They nodded, and I sighed.

_'They got their magic back. I'm so relieved..'_

I turned to Sulien, but he had stopped fighting. He looked away in frustration. "So that's it then. All of this time, all of the waiting, and it was all hopeless in the end. I dreamed that power would come to me, but I am left even more powerless than before."

"Even more powerless?" I asked, and he sighed.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "Whatever magic I may have had was given to that blade long ago, alongside my brothers- and it all dissappeared with the flames."

_'His magic's gone..'_

Despite everything he'd done, I felt a strange sense of pity for him. "Sulien-"

"I don't want to hear it," he snarled. "Whatever you're going to do to me, just go ahead and do it."

Klaus stepped forward. "I'm sure the Ministry will have plenty of questions for you, Mr. Sulien. Come with me." They both started to pull him away, but something was bugging me.

"Sulien, wait!" He turned to look at me. "This leftover magic.. Is it-"

He smirked. "Why don't you check the coffin for yourself and find out?" With that, he left with the others.

I glanced down at the coffin, at Lacan. When I turned to look at Felix, he nodded. I gently knelt down by the coffin and lifted the lid.

It was strange. I had seen Lacan so many times when I dreamed of the reciters, but it was something completely different to see him like this. He looked different too.

And my heart sank as I saw where the blade had gotten him, the scratch running up his side. _'So then this magic must have been Lacan's magic after all..'_ That's when I noticed something strange-

"Huh?"

“What is it?" Felix asked.

“Lacan, he's- I think he's-" I tried to speak, but the words came out all jumbled. "He's breathing-"

"What?!" Felix rushed to my side, and he realized it too. Before, it had been as though he had been preserved, with no breath and no pulse. But, though he did not wake, he was breathing, and we quickly found a pulse. "That's impossible, his seal- I would have felt it if his seal had changed-"

"The battle did occur right in front of his seal," Hugo muttered, "we were fools to think that it would have no effect on his seal."

I braced myself for the trembling of the castle as it had been the last time that we were here, for everything to fall- but nothing happened. No matter how long I waited, nothing happened.

_'Something's not right here.'_

I looked up at Vain and Hugo, who looked just as confused as I did, and I finally spoke up. Gathering my courage, I asked, "Vain, Hugo, the seal on the castle- and the seal on Lacan..is it possible that the two seals could've been.. separated?" Their eyes widened.

“..I don't know," Vain said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, but- with all the magical energy trading hands, and Lacan losing his- that actually.. seems likely."

My heart was racing, but Felix frowned up at us from Lacan's side. He looked over to Alfonse. "Could you check on his condition?"

Alfonse nodded and hurried over; I stepped aside. "It appears that he's out of stasis, but.. it's as though he's under a cursed sleep." My heart sank.

"It's.. not enough," Felix said quietly, tears in his eyes. "All of that, and it's still not enough.”

And I looked up at the others, and I remembered Sulien's words. _'The one who holds the power of the six will have absolute power.'_ Sulien and his brothers's powers were gone, but- perhaps we could be enough.

_'A power freely given- is a thousand times stronger than any one that's been stolen,'_ Felix had said.

After all this time, I couldn't let this go. Who knew when we would have another chance? If we had the power-

“I wonder.. if we could combine our powers, if it could be enough to push the seal over the edge,” I said at last. "If we worked together, it could be enough." I looked up at Willem and Felix, and their sadness in their eyes turned to resolve.

I glanced up at Hugo and Vain, but they wouldn't meet my eyes. "Goddess, this is-"

I can't say I didn't understand their hesitation. "If you think this is wrong," I told them, "then stop me." Silence. They didn't move to stop me, but.. I knew that letting someone else do it and helping were two entirely different things.

_'I guess three will have to be enough.'_

I turned to Felix. "What do we do? What powers can we use?"

"I think I have the spell for this," Willem said. "Just follow my lead." He took a deep breath- and then, he started to sing. A moment later, Felix's voice joined his in harmony.

I caught the words, and I did my best to follow with them. As I sang, I could feel Lacan's power-

"Frater, frater, reversus est ad me.."

But no matter how long we sang, he didn't wake; my heart sank. "This isn't enough.."

"Could we add our power to yours?" Alfonse asked. "It could be enough-"

Willem shook his head. "This spell only works with the power of a Dragonkin. The only reason it works with Liz is that she carries Lacan's power."

That left only two people in all the world who could help us. _'All we need is a bit more power-'_

In desperation, I turned to Hugo. "Hugo, please.."

All his hesitation melted away in an instant. "..Just tell me the spell."

This time, four voices rose up in harmony. I pushed myself a little harder-

_'Just a little more-'_

And then, a fifth voice, hesitant and sweet, joined ours. ' _Vain!'_

It was as though time had frozen- and then, slowly, slowly, he began to stir.

"Huh? What's.. going on?"

I pulled away once the magic was gone, and Hugo and Vain stepped away as well.

Lacan opened his eyes, looking at his friends. "Felix? Willem? Where am I?"

"Lacan.." Felix's voice was thick with tears, and I could see tears in Willem's eyes as well. I couldn't blame them; I knew that I was probably crying too. "You're awake."

After all this time, after all this pain, Lacan was awake. All three of them were finally together again.

"The last thing I remember, those wizards were here- the Goddess Crystal was-" He clutched his head. "There was darkness, I was wandering in darkness-"

"I know," Felix said. Felix and Willem helped him to his feet, and his eyes widened as he looked around the room. And Lacan's eyes turned cold as he saw us.

"What are they doing here? Humans in our castle! You might've hurt us before," he snarled, "but you won't hurt us again!" He raised his hand, magic gathering in his palm, aiming right for me-

_'Oh no,'_ I thought, my heart racing. _'He thinks that we're still at war!'_

And twin voices cried out at once, "Lacan, wait!"

In an instant, Felix and Willem grabbed onto his wrists, holding him back. "I know how this must feel, Lacan," Felix pleaded, "but this isn't what you think!"

"These aren't the people who hurt us!" Willem added.

"They are.. our friends."

"Friends?" Lacan stopped, confusion flickering across his expression. He looked between his two friends, hesitation in his eyes. "I.. I've missed a lot, haven't I?"

"There's so much I've wanted to tell you," Felix said quietly, "we'll explain everything." Lacan finally nodded, and I sighed in relief.

No trembling in the castle; Lacan was awake, but the world was not going to fall apart. That terrible future had finally been averted. Everything would be all right.

 

Rembrandt: That took a long time, but finally we're here.

Hugo: I never thought I'd see the day I'd be glad that Lacan was awakened. ..Or that I would help free him.

Rembrandt: Thank you for all your help.

Hugo: Are you all right? You're tearing up..

Rembrandt: I'm fine! I'm fine! I'm just glad that I could finally see this day. We've been waiting a very long time.

Hugo: I'm glad to hear it.

Rembrandt: How will this story end? It's all up to your choices. Find out next time!

 


	13. Normal Ending

"-As such, the Ministry has decided to let you go."

_'Thank goodness..'_ I stole a glance over at Felix; his carefully blank expression melted into relief.

"I can't thank you enough," he said, bowing his head.

"There are precious few Dragonkin left," Klaus said easily. "It would be a shame to see all of them locked away once more."

 

"I heard you and Lacan laughing even when I went to sleep last night. Did you stay up all night?"

"Well," Felix said as I took a seat next to him, "we had a lot to catch up on. I had to tell him about you too."

I didn't think I would ever get used to him talking about me. "W-what exactly did you say?"

He smiled, and my heart went racing. I didn't think I'd ever get used to that either. "I told him about a lot. About how you saved the world, how you helped me- too much to mention, really."

"Please tell me you didn't mention me crying-"

He tilted his head. "Well, of course I did."

"Felix! I don't think people need to know about that.." At his flustered look, I sighed. "Well, it's whatever. Much worse stories have been told about me. At least you didn't talk about me making it rain frogs."

"I'm not sure I've heard that story.."

We talked easily for a little bit, and I found myself easing, putting my head on my shoulder. But he seemed to stumble over his words, as though there was something else on his mind.

"Liz," he finally said, "I'd like to go speak to Hugo and Vain. I still need to thank them for helping us. And.. there's something that I'd like to ask them, as well."

 

Felix was still quiet when I returned to my house that afternoon, and I was starting to worry.

"Felix, is everything all right?"

"Hmm?" He looked up at me, but then he couldn't meet my eyes.

"How did talking to Hugo and Vain go?" I prompted. "You said you wanted to ask them something?" As soon as he looked away, I knew that I had hit the nail on the head. I took a seat beside him. "Did something happen?"

"I.. I wanted to confirm with them if their magic was gone as well," he said at last.

"What?!"

"..It seems that when Sulien's blade was destroyed, it took our magic with it," he said at last.

"But that's impossible- you used your magic, I saw it! How could you have awakened Lacan if you didn't have your magic?!"

"Perhaps some part of it lingered long enough for us to revive him, but.. in the days since, none of our magic has returned. I asked Hugo, Vain, Willem.. even Lacan has said the same."

My heart sank. _'After everything we fought for-'_

"There must be some way to get your magic back," I said desperately, but he shook his head.

I knew it was hopeless. Just as Sulien's powers had been tied up with his blade, Felix's had too. "Felix.."

"It's all right," he said. "It'll be strange, but I can get used to living without magic. If Willem can do it, so can I." But even as he spoke, there was still a lingering sadness in his tone.

 

"How do you do this?"

"It's a simple trick," Willem tried to reassure him. It was quite an amusing sight, the three Reciters standing in my kitchen, trying to figure out how to sweeten tea without magic. I wondered if this is what it was like before, when the three of them lived in the Castle in the Sky. I doubted I would ever get tired of seeing the three of them together.

Finally, Felix set down a cup of tea before me. "There, that should do it."

All their efforts paid off; the tea was wonderfully sweet. "This is delicious!"

"It's an old Dragonkin recipe. It's usually done with magic, but we found a way to make it work." I beamed at the pride in his voice, but then I saw there was a distant look in his eyes. "I guess there's no one to pass it on to now.."

My heart broke as I heard his voice. "Felix.."

He was quiet for a minute, and then he gave a bittersweet smile. "It's funny.. When we put our power together, I found myself wondering if this might be the other way. If the five of us worked together, perhaps we could restore the Dragonkin without bloodshed. But.. without my magic.."

Was that why he had been so sad lately? "But.. there'll still be Dragonkin to pass this onto, won't there?" I asked. "Our children will be Dragonkin too."

"O-our children?" When I looked up, Felix had gone bright red, covering his face with his hands; I heard Lacan laughing beside him.

Oh. Right. We, uh, hadn't really discussed that, had we? "I mean, if you decide you want to-"

"I never really thought about it before," he admitted. "I was always so focused on leading the Dragonkin that I didn't think about falling in love or having a family.. But with you.. I wouldn't mind-"

Now it was my turn to go bright red, and I quickly looked away.

Maybe the Dragonkin wouldn't come back exactly the way that they had been. But one day, they'd return, and we'd be the ones to shape their path. Together.

 


	14. Unhappy Ending

I smiled as I heard the laughter from the living room. 'They've been talking nonstop since we left the castle. I guess they have a lot of catching up to do.'

Lacan greeted me cheerfully as I stepped into the living room, handing them each their cup of tea. "You know, Felix has been telling me a lot about you." I couldn't help but blush at that. I wondered what kind of stories he was telling. He was just telling me-"

Just then, I heard a knock on the door. "Oh, look at that, I have to get that-" I darted to the door, but I froze as I saw him. Klaus was standing at the door with Vincent and Glenn. "Klaus, what are you doing here?"

"We're here for Felix," he told me. "This is.. official Ministry business." He walked into the living room; Felix got to his feet, his expression carefully blank. "Felix, under order of the Ministry-"

It felt like everything froze as all the pieces fell into place. 'No, no, no-'

I lurched forward, Vincent pulled me back. "Stay out of this, Liz," he warned me gently.

Lacan looked between them in confusion. "W-what's going on?" Felix's carefully blank expression broke as he tore his gaze away.

"Stay back, Lacan."

"Felix plotted to destroy the world by bringing down the Castle in the Sky, not to mention numerous crimes against Queen Zenobia." Lacan got to his feet. "For his crimes, the Ministry is calling for immediate imprisonment."

"You're lying-"

"It's all true," Felix said.

"But he's not a threat to you any longer!" Lacan cried. "Our magic is gone, there's nothing he can do to you!"

"What?!" I cried; Lacan instantly covered his mouth. I looked to Felix, who wouldn't meet my eyes.

"..It's true. It appears that we used the last fragments of our magic to awaken Lacan." My heart dropped, but then I suddenly had more pressing matters as he turned back to Klaus.

_'They're going to take him away-'_

"No, Klaus! Please, you can't take him-"

Felix turned to Klaus. "I'll go with you. But will you give me a moment to talk to Liz?" He nodded, stepping back.

My heart was in my throat as he walked over to me. There were a thousand things I wanted to say, but I couldn't find the words. "Felix.."

"It's all right, Liz," Felix told me gently. "I did what I wanted to do. I was able to save Lacan, and I was able to spend this time with you. I'm content with that."

I had to say it now- "I love you, Felix."

He smiled. "I love you too, Liz."

"Time's up. We have to go." Felix stepped back. He didn't protest as Klaus took him away. And only when they were gone did I allow my tears to fall.

 


	15. Happy Ending

The morning after the battle, I heard a knock on my door. When I opened the door, I saw a familiar face.  
"Oh, Lacan!"  
"You're Liz, right?" I nodded. "I wanted to speak with you." He smiled.  
"Come on in." We settled into the living room, and I handed him a cup of tea. I was trying not to stare, but.. I didn't think I'd ever get used to actually seeing him in the flesh. "What did you need?"  
"Willem and Felix filled me in on everything that happened while I was sleeping," he started. The three of them had been over at Willem's house; Felix hadn't returned until late in the morning. "About the time travelers, about what they did to bring me back.." Sadness flickered across his face. "They told me a lot about you too."  
"All good things, I hope?"  
"All good things," he reassured me. "They told me you were a hero. Felix in particular couldn't stop talking about you." He looked thoughtful, tilting his head. "It's been a long time since I've seen him smile like that."  
"I'm just glad I could help him. He's very important to me."  
"I, uh, also wanted to apologize for nearly attacking you," he said, his cheeks turning a bit red. "I was quite disoriented on waking up, and I didn't-"  
"There's no need to worry," I said. "I would have been more than frazzled if I was in your place."

"Ugh, I haven't slept like that since-" I looked up as Felix stumbled into the living room, and he stopped in his tracks as he saw us.  
"Good morning, Felix," I said. "Did you sleep well?"  
"Better than I have in ages," he admitted. "I slept so well, I was afraid.. I was afraid that I would wake up to find that it had all been a dream.."  
"This is not a dream," Lacan said gently. "We're safe. You saved me."  
Felix's cheeks turned pink. "I didn't do it alone," he said. "I couldn't have done it without Willem or Liz." Lacan laughed.  
"I know. You told me that many, many times yesterday," he said. "You said quite a bit about her yesterday." He turned to me. "You should have seen him, he went on and on-"  
"Lacan-"  
I couldn't help but let a bit of playfulness peek through. "You've known Felix for a long time, right? So I bet you have all sorts of interesting stories to tell~"  
"Oh, I have plenty of stories to tell. Thousands of years of it in fact. There was one time that we were baking, and-"  
"Lacan, she doesn't need to know about that!"  
Yes, I think that we would get along just fine.

A few days later, Klaus summoned us. My heart was in my throat as I stepped into the office; I saw that Hugo and Vain were waiting in there as well.  
"The Ministry has made its decision regarding Felix." I knew that that was coming, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't still nervous. It felt like we had a quiet understanding with the Ministry while we were trying to stop Sulien, but now that that was over..  
"Whatever punishment the Ministry has decided for me," Felix said, "I will accept it." His expression was blank, but I thought I heard his voice shaking slightly. I felt him squeeze my hand.  
"Your punishment is.. nothing. The Ministry has decided to let you go free."  
"What?" Felix's eyes widened. "Even after all I've done, the Ministry is willing to let me go?"  
"You did help stop Sulien," Klaus said coolly. "With all of the power he carried, it's likely we would have seen a lot worse than even what you did. Although, I will say, your fate might have been quite different if somebody wasn't willing to vouch for you." We followed his gaze, but Hugo and Vain didn't meet our eyes.  
"It seems that I have you two to thank once more," Felix said.  
"It took quite a bit of convincing," Hugo admitted. "There was quite a lot to explain, but they ended up saying that since the future was averted.."  
"Thank you."  
I let out a sigh of relief. 'Things are looking up..'  
But there was still one question on my mind. "Klaus," I asked, "what will happen to Sulien now?"  
"I don't know. As he was a citizen of Queensblade, Queen Zenobia has asked that she be allowed to handle him. His fate will be left in her hands."  
Even after everything he did, I still felt a twinge of pity for him. "Thank you."  
As Klaus left, Vain pulled us aside. "We would like to speak to you for a moment as well. To the both of you."  
"Of course," Felix said smoothly. "I've been needing to speak to you as well."  
"Now that our powers have returned, we were able to make contact with the future once more," Vain told us. "We filled them in on everything that's happened, and we have received new orders."  
My heart caught in my throat. Of course, I should have expected that they'd have words for Felix too, but it hadn't occurred to me.  
"This is the first timeline where we have been able to avert destruction, and, as we've seen, we have no idea what could happen beyond that," Hugo said. "So our leaders have asked us to watch over this timeline and make sure that nothing else goes wrong."  
I couldn't stop smiling. "That means.. you get to stay?"  
"Technically, we're still here on business, but yes." Hugo let out a relieved smile.  
'Thank goodness,' I thought. I'd gotten used to the two of them being with us.  
"That's good to hear," Felix said. "We could always do with more Dragonkin in this world." Hugo and Vain both averted their gazes.  
Finally, Hugo looked up. "What did you want to speak to us about?"  
"I.. I wanted to thank you for your help," Felix said.  
"Without you, Lacan would have still been asleep. I don't know what I would have done."  
Vain looked away. "I had to repay you. You saved my family, it was only fair that I return the favor." Hugo nodded.  
"Thank you."  
Vain turned away. "Well, we should get going. We have other business to attend to. Come along, Hugo."  
"Wait!" As they started to leave, Felix called out to them again; Vain turned back. "Sulien said that the one who has the power of six Dragonkin would have ultimate power. That may not be possible, right now.. It seems five can be enough."  
"What are you saying?"  
"If we work together, I think we could achieve great things."  
"..Perhaps."

“So, there's something I'm still wondering..” I could hear Felix and Willem talking from the living room. As I came to stand with them, Felix casually wound his arm around my waist. “Since you have your magic back,” Felix said with a grin, “does that mean we can see this Strange Taffy form of yours I've heard so much about?”  
Willem looked shocked, but he nodded. “Very well.”  
“Great!” Felix beamed. “You said that you transformed with spicy food, right? I wonder what we should make then..”  
Willem sighed. “Felix-”  
“It's too late to go back to that restaurant, not that I would want to,” Felix mused.  
“Felix-”  
“Perhaps we could ask Lacan to cook something?”  
“Felix!” He looked up sharply at Willem's words. Willem sighed. “You do know I can transform without spicy food, don't you?”  
“Oh.” Felix smiled again. “Then I'd like to see!”  
There was a puff of smoke, and then- Strange Taffy stood before us again. Felix was grinning from ear to ear.  
“You've gotten better!” Felix said. “What a.. unique teddy bear!”  
“He certainly is unique,” I agreed. “He doesn't look that much like Taffy though.”  
“You were fooled,” Willem grumbled.  
Felix looked up at me in confusion. “Who's Taffy?”  
“He's my friend's familiar,” I explained. “He's a teddy bear- I think.” Now that got me curious. “Felix, are you any good at transformation magic?”  
“Well, I'd say I'm better than some people,” Felix mused, “but, honestly, Lacan's even better than I am.”  
“Of course he is,” Willem said proudly as he transformed back. “Transformation magic always comes easily to Dragonkin who wield Daydream powers.”  
“Daydream powers?” And suddenly, things were starting to fall into place. “Is that why-”  
“Yes,” Felix said. “That would likely have been the source of Sulien's shapeshifting powers. I should have known, but..” He let out a bitter laugh. “It never occurred to me that he would turn out to be a Dragonkin as well.”

It wasn't until that night, when everyone else had left, that I got up the courage to ask the question that had been dancing on my mind.  
“Felix,” I started, feeling a little embarassed, “remember how we were talking about Transformation magic?” He nodded. “Do you think you could show me? I'd like to see how yours work.”  
“What would you like to see?”  
I blanked there. “..I have no idea. Surprise me!”  
“Hmm.” He smiled. “I think I have something.” There was a puff of smoke, and then.. when the smoke cleared, a small familiar figure stood before me, and my jaw dropped. Aside from the white cloak, he was the perfect image of Hachi! “What do you think?”  
“You're so adorable!” I scooped him up in my arms, cuddling him.  
“Liz- I can't breathe-” Whoops.

"It's funny, it still doesn't quite feel real, does it?"  
"Not at all," I said. "It's strange to feel so.. peaceful now." The two of us were curled up together on my couch; I doubted I'd ever get tired of Felix's arms around me. "We were fighting that horrible future for so long, and now everything's all right."  
"It's honestly.. a little scary," he said, and I turned to face him.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Just.. thinking about what could have been. What was, in those other timelines," he said, looking off in the distance. "I thought that my way was the only way to achieve what I wanted. But now.. now things are much better than I could dream of. After all this time, Lacan has been awakened- peacefully- and.. my friendship with Willem is stronger than ever. And, best of all, I have you." My heart went racing at his smile. "If I had chosen another path, if I had gotten what I thought I wanted.. I would have never known that it would be so easily to do it peacefully.."  
"It is scary," I admitted. "But we were able to create a happy future for ourselves."  
"And it's all thanks to you," he said, pressing his forehead to mine. "If you hadn't given up on me, I would still be lost in that darkness."  
"It wasn't just all me!" I assured him. "If you were the other you, things would have been different. You were the one who helped us protect Vain. You were the one who sacrificed your magic for me.. The old you wouldn't have done that. That's why it's this you that I love." As soon as I said it, he went bright red, and I realized, 'Oh, I hadn't said that yet, had I?'. "I-"  
And he tilted his head with a smile.. "Oh. That's what it was."  
"What?"  
"Hugo's prophecy. 'The Dragon King falls'.. All this time, we thought it would be something sinister, but I think I know what it means. It's how I fell for you." He smiled. "I love you too."  
"Felix!" I'm sure my voice came out as a squeak.  
He pulled me into a kiss. I didn't mind that.  
And when I broke away, I remembered something. "And this isn't all. It may not be now, but.. I want to help you find a way to bring back the Dragonkin."  
"I think I'd like that."

 

After all this time, we had succeeded. The Dragonkin had returned to this world, and now.. now, we were preparing a ceremony to welcome them back. Although.. ceremony was putting it lightly; it was really more of a party. That didn't mean I wasn't nervous though.  
It felt like I was being introduced to a lot of new faces at this party, so many people came up to us and greeted us. I enjoyed the pleasantries, but I wasn't sure I could keep up with everyone.  
There was one person that stuck out in my memory though. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hart," Harkin said. I recognized that bright red hair.  
"You're.." I shook my head. "It's nice to meet you too!"  
"It's funny, your friends gave me that same reaction too," he said. "A lot has changed since we've been gone."  
"I understand that feeling," Felix said.  
"But a lot of things have stayed the same. You're still the same 'Dragon King' you always were, I'm happy to see," he said warmly.  
"..You know," Felix said after a minute, "I'm not the one you should be calling that." He jerked his head towards Willem. "He is."  
"Me?" Willem asked, wide-eyed.  
"Yeah! You're the one who's been working towards this for thousands of years. You're the one whose ideals of peace proved true in the end." Willem looked away, tears in his eyes. I felt tears in my eyes watching them. "You're the one they should be following."  
"Felix.."  
"I'm not sure I understand, but that's nice," Harkin said. Lacan smiled as he put an arm around his shoulder.  
"I'll explain later. For now, I've got two very special people I think you should meet.."

“I have to say, it felt weird to wear this again,” Felix said as he took off his overcoat that night, once we had gotten back to our house. “Doubt anyone would have recognized me without it though.”  
“It has been a long time,” I agreed.  
He gave a strange smile as he turned back. “But I wonder...”  
"Felix?" I tilted my head- and then he suddenly took the robes and draped them over me!

  
"I was right," he said, beaming, "they look much better on you."  
"This is actually pretty nice," I couldn't help but say. Okay, maybe I'd always wanted to try it on, but I wasn't going to tell him that.  
"It looks much better on you than it ever did on me,” he said with a smile, adjusting the hood. “It feels like a relic from another me.” His eyes were distant. “A me who thought that the only way to get what I wanted was through destruction.”  
“But you're not that person anymore,” I reassured him. “No matter what happens, you made it out of that darkness.”  
“And I couldn't have done it without you, my love,” he said sweetly. “We were able to create the future of our dreams because of you. And now I know that I don't want to be without you ever again. I want to be with you forever. So..”  
My heart was racing, and I suddenly remembered something that he had told me before. 'When the Dragonkin return, I'll..'  
He knelt down on one knee. “Liz Hart, will you marry me?”  
“Yes!” I jumped to my feet, pulling him into a kiss.

  
Together, our dreams became reality. And, together, we'd live in this new future. And I couldn't be more excited to see what the future held.


End file.
